m 


LIBRARY 


Theological   Seminary, 

PRINCETON,    N.  J. 

BL  259  .K56  1851 
Co,     King,  David,  1806-1883 

«-   eL?finCiPleS  of  geology 
explained,  and  viewed  in 

Book, 


The  Mammoth. 


The   Mastodon. 


PRINCIPLES 


GEOLOGY   EXPLAINED, 


AND   VIEWED    IN    THEIR   RELATIONS  TO 


REVEALED  AND  NATURAL  RELIGION. 


BY  REV.   DAVID   KING,   LL.D. 

GLASGOW. 


WITH    NOTES    AND    AN    APPENDIX    BY    JOHN    SCOULER    M.D. 

F.L.S.,    PROF.    OF    NAT.    HIST.    TO    THE    ROYAL 

SOCIETY,  DUBLIN. 


NEW  YORK: 
ROBERT    CARTER    AND    BROTIIERS; 

285  BROADWAY. 
1851. 


CONTENTS. 


Preface,        -  vii 

Introductory  Observations,  \ 


PART  I. 

Principles  of  Modern  Geology,  5 

Aqueous  Rocks, -6 

Igneous  Rocks,            -        -        -        _        _  -H 

Tabular  View  of  Fossiliferous  Strata,         -  -       16 

PART   II. 

Accordance  of  Geology  with    Revealed   Reli- 
gion,       --------24 

Proofs  of  the  Antiquity  of  the  World,        -        -      26 
Such  facts  as  are  stated  above  cannot  be  account- 
ed for  by  the  Deluge  of  Noah,  or  by  any  causes 
of  which  the  operation  has  been  subsequent  to 
the  creation  of  man,        -        -  32 


jv  CONTENTS. 

Page 
That  the  world  was  created  in  its  present  state  is 

an  incredible  supposition,        -        -        -        -  33 

Difficulties  may  excite  undue  alarm,           -        -  36 

Modes  of  Conciliation, 30 

Opinions  regarding  the  six  days,         -        -        -  40 
On  such  a  subject  we  should  not  be  dogmatical 

or  hasty  in  our  decisions,        -        -        -        -  43 

Important  agreements  between   Scripture  and 
Geology,  .------45 

Why  was  rfot  the  ancient  world  more  exempt 
from  physical  evil  than  Geology  supposes  it  to 

have  been  1 --50 

The  Deluge,        -        - 53 

Extent  of  the  Deluge, 56 

The  testimony  of  tradition,  62 

A  Deluge  not  impossible,  64 

Observation  does  not  warrant  scepticism,        -  66 
Concluding  remarks  on  this  department  of  the 

subject,        -------  70 

PART   III. 

Proofs  furnished   by  Geology   of  the    Being 

and  Perfections  of  God,  75 

I.  Geology  in  its  Relation  to  the  Organic  World,  76 

The  Megatherium,           -        -        -        -        -  77 

Extinction  and  Introduction  of  Species,  -        -  85 

Hume's  argument  against  Miracles,        -        -  99 

The  Development  Hypothesis,        -        -        -  101 


CONTENTS. 


V 


Page 
II.  Geology  in  Relation  to  the  Inorganic  World,  -    116 

Balancing  Agencies  and  Processes,  -        -     116 

Water, 117 


1. 

Fire> -  120 

2.     Consolidation  and  Disintegration,      -  124 
Substances  of  High  Economical  Value— 

1-  Coal> 128 

2.  Lime, -        -  132 

3.  Metals,  ---__.  134 

The  proof  is  infinite, 138 

No  good  is  to  be  expected  from  Atheism,        -  142 

Conclusion, 149 

APPENDIX. 

I.  Objects  of  Geological  Science,  -        -        -  156 

II.  Provision  has  been  made  in  creation  for  unity, 

variety,  and  beauty,  as  well  as  utility,  -  161 

III.  Doctrine  of  the  Transmutation  of  Species,        -  170 

rV.  Recent  appearance  of  man,      -  188 

Glossary  and  Index, -  193 


PREFACE. 


The  writings  of  geologists  are  now  in  general 
circulation.  They  are  read  with  much  interest, 
and,  at  the  same  time,  with  not  a  little  per- 
plexity by  the  most  enlightened  section  of  Chris- 
tian society.  In  my  intercourse  with  young  men 
of  good  education,  I  have  found  more  of  them 
disquieted  in  their  minds,  if  not  unsettled  in  their 
religious  principles,  by  the  results  of  geological 
investigation,  than  by  any  other  difficulties  at- 
tending revealed  truth.  In  these  circumstances, 
I  have  been  compelled  to  give  some  attention  to 
the  subject,  that  I  might  'be  ready  always  to 
give  an  answer  to  every  one  that  asked  me  a 
reason  of  the  hope  that  is  in  me,  with  meekness 
and  fear.' 

If  I  mistake  not,  the  time  has  come  when  we 


Vlll  PREFACE. 

must  all  meet  the  problems  here  presented  for 
solution,  with  a  perfect  frankness.  The  honour 
of  anticipating  the  exigency  and  exposing  the 
causelessness  of  alarm,  before  it  was  wide  spread, 
regarding  the  march  of  science  in  this  new  region 
bordering  on  sacred  ground,  has  been  already 
won  by  great  and  good  men,  several  of  whom 
have  gone  to  their  rest.*     But  others,  at  what- 

*  A  writer  in  the  Edinburgh  Review  (No.  clxxxii.,  Oct., 
1849,  Art.  1,)  says:  'The  recent  interpretation  of  the  com- 
mencement of  Genesis— by  which  the  first  verse  is  simply 
supposed  to  affirm  the  original  creation  of  all  things,  while 
the  second  immediately  refers  to  the  commencement  of  the 
human  economy;  passing  by  those  prodigious  cycles  which 
geology  demands,  with  a  silence  worthy  of  a  true  revelation, 
which  does  not  pretend  to  gratify  our  curiosity  as  to  the 
previous  condition  of  our  globe,  any  more  than  our  curiosity 
as  to  the  history  of  other  worlds— was  first  suggested  by 
geology,  though  suspected  and  indeed  anticipated  by  some 
of  the  early  Fathers.'  The  reviewer  has  not,  in  these 
sentences,  expressed  himself  with  his  usual  precision  and 
accuracy.  How  could  any  interpretation  be  '  recent,'  and 
1 first  suggested  by  geology,'  when  it  had  been  'anticipated 
by  some  of  the  early  Fathers  ?'  My  friend.  Dr.  Eadie,  says, 
'The  length  of  time  that  may  have  elapsed  between  the 
events  recorded  in  the  first  verse  (of  the  first  chapter  of 
Genesis)  and  the  condition  of  the  globe,  as  described  in  the 
second  verse,  is  absolutely  indefinite.  How  long  it  was,  we 
know  not ;  and  ample  space  is  therefore  given  to  all  the  re- 
quisitions of  geology.  The  second  verse  describes  the  con- 
dition of  our  globe,  when  God  began  to  fit  it  up  fur  the 
abode  of  man.    The  first  day's  work  does  not  begin  till  the 


preface.  ix 

ever  distance,  must  follow  in  the  same  course, 
and  the  various  points  in  debate  must  be  freely 
and  generally  canvassed,  till  good  information 
shall  have  set  public  solicitude  at  rest. 

It  will  not  be  denied,  I  think,  that  Geology 
has  been  hitherto  regarded   with  coldness  and 

third  verse.  .  .  .  This  is  no  new  theory.  It  was  held 
by  Justin  Martyr,  Basil,  Origen,  Theodoret,  and  Augustine 
--men  who  came  to  such  a  conclusion  without  any  bias,  and 
who  certainly  were  not  driven  to  it  by  any  geological  diffi- 
culties.' (Biblical  Cyclopcedia,  Art.  Creation.)  Professor 
Hitchcock,  who  has  given  great  attention  to  the  history  of 
this  subject,  declares  that  he  is  not  aware  of  any  new  theo- 
ries of  exegesis  having  been  originated  by  geologists. — (See 
Student's  Cab.  Lib.,  Vol.  IV.,  p.  24.)  Certain  it  is,  howev- 
er, that  the  views  indicated  above  were  not  current  in  this 
country  till  of  late  years  ;  and  that  Dr.  Chalmers  had  great 
merit  in  giving  them  distinctness,  and  even  originality  of 
exhibition  and  in  gaining  attention  and  favour  for  them  by 
his  eloquent  writings.  In  the  highly  interesting  memoirs  of 
him,  by  his  son-in  law,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Hanna,  it  is  s  lid  :  'The 
merit,  I  believe,  belongs  to  Mr.  Chalmers,  of  having  been  the 
first  clergyman  in  this  country  who,  yielding  to  the  evidence 
in  favour  of  a  much  higher  antiquity  being  assigned  to  the 
earth  than  had  previously  been  conceived,  suggested  the 
manner  in  which  such  a  scientific  faith  could  be  harmonist  d 
with  the  Mosaic  narrative,  and  who,  even  in  the  dreaded  in- 
vestigations of  the  geologist,  discerned  and  indicated  fresh 
"  footprints  of  the  Creator."  So  early  as  1804  he  had  arrived 
at  the  conviction  that  "  the  writings  of  Moses  do  not  fix 
the  antiquity  of  the  globe.  If  they  fix  anything  at  all,  it  is 
only  the  antiquity  of  the  species." '—  Memoirs,  vol.  i., 
p.  386. 


X  PREFACE. 

suspicion  by  the  greater  portion  of  the  religious 
community,  and  that  most  theological  writers, 
who  have  found  it  in  their  way,  have  rather 
availed  themselves  of  the  best  excuses  for  dis- 
missing its  pretensions,  than  shown  any  dispo- 
sition to  entertain  them  very  courteously.  Times 
without  number  have  these  lines  of  Cowper  been 
quoted . 

1  Some  drill  and  bore 
The  solid  earth,  and  from  the  strata  there 
Extract  a  register  by  which  we  learn 
That  He  who  made  it,  and  revealed  its  date 
To  Moses,  was  mistaken  in  its  age.' 

Task,  B.  iii. 

In  Cowper's  day  Geology  was  only  in  its  in- 
fancy, and  had  no  matured  claim  to  respect  and 
confidence.  At  all  stages  of  its  history  it  has 
had  reckless  advocates,  who  have  opposed  their 
own  crude  suggestions  about  terrestrial  pheno- 
mena to  the  clearest  statements  and  strongest 
proofs  of  an  accredited  revelation.  Perhaps  it 
is  well  to  scorn  these  scorners.  and  answer  such 
fools  according  to  their  folly.  But  no  one  who 
is  conversant  with  the  facts  will  allelic  that  our 
more    celebrated    geologists    are    speculators    of 


PREFACE.  XI 

this  description,  or  that  the  results  of  their  able, 
diversified,  and  interesting  investigations  can  be 
fairly  set  aside  by  pleasantry  or  ridicule. 

Nor  will  it  do  to  plead  the  quarrels  of  geolo- 
gists as  sufficient  reason  for  refusing  them  an 
audience,  and  for  requiring  them  to  agree  among 
themselves,  before  a  Christian  shall  look  at  the 
nature  and  tendencies  of  their  principles.  It  is 
true  that  geologists  differ  among  each  other  on 
points  of  importance.  And  this  is  a  good  reason 
why  we  should  not  be  impatient  for  a  perfect 
apparent  accordance  between  Geology  and  Scrip- 
ture. The  seeming  accordance  which  we  would 
hail  in  the  present  state  of  the  science,  might 
become  a  source  of  perplexity  in  its  future 
stages.  But  while  geologists  have  their  dif- 
ferences, they  have  also  their  agreements,  as  any 
one  will  perceive  who  reads  the  first  part  of  this 
small  Treatise,  and  remembers  that  the  principles 
there  explained  are  now  generally  admitted. 
How  could  a  tabular  representation  of  the  fos- 
siliferous  strata  of  the  earth  obtain  common 
consent,  unless  the  science  were  in  an  advanced 
state  ?  It  must  especially  be  considered  that 
geologists    are    now   agreed    on    certain   points, 


Xll  PREFACE. 


such  as  the  great  age  of  the  earth,  having  the 
most  intimate  connexion  with  scriptural  inter- 
pretation. 

Nor,  finally,  will  it  suffice  for  a  removal  of 
difficulties  to  allege  merely  that  the  Bible  was 
not  designed  to  teach  Geology.  That  is  true  : 
and  the  truth  is  one  which,  in  all  discussions 
upon  the  subject,  we  should  ever  keep  in  mind. 
It  rebukes  the  construction  of  a  formal  system 
out  of  a  few  notices  designed  for  other  and 
nobler  applications,  and  also  forbids  a  rigid 
explanation  of  popular  terms  on  philosophical 
principles.  Still,  the  Bible  does  give  us  accounts 
both  of  the  Creation  and  the  Deluge  ;  and  if  we 
attach  to  its  narration  any  distinct  meaning  at 
all,  we  are  called  on  to  inquire  how  far  that 
meaning  is  reconcileable  with  the  conclusions  of 
elaborate  observation. 

The  spirit  which  starts  these  objections  to  the 
labours  and  doctrines  of  geologists  is  one,  it  may 
be,  of  jealous  concern  for  the  truth  and  safety 
of  the  word  of  God.  But  anxiety  may  be  sin- 
cere and  friendly  where  it  is  not  wise.  Uzzah 
feared  for  the  ark  of  God  when  shaken  by  the 
oxen,  although  it  was  perfectly  secure  :   and   he 


PREFACE.  X1H 

put  forth  his  hand  to  prop  it  up,  when  he  had 
better  confided  in  its  proper  support.  I  acknow- 
ledge that  Geology  has  occasioned  some  diffi- 
culties to  Christians.  But  these  difficulties,  I  am 
persuaded,  are  often  exaggerated ;  and  I  entirely 
agree  with  the  able  writer  in  the  '  Edinburgh 
Review,'  already  alluded  to  in  a  note,  who  says : 
— '  Geology  has,  however,  in  our  judgment,  done 
at  least  as  much  already  to  remove  difficulties 
as  to  occasion  them ;  and  it  is  not  illogical,  or 
perhaps  unfair,  to  surmise  that,  if  we  will  only 
have  'patience,  its  own  difficulties,  as  those  of  so 
many  other  branches  of  science,  will  be  eventu- 
ally solved.' 

The  reviewer  gives,  as  a  striking  example  of 
the  confirmation  which  Geology  may  afford  to 
scripture  history,  that  the  vast  changes  and  mul- 
tiplication of  languages,  within  a  period  so  brief 
as  what  Geology  assigns  to  the  past  duration  of 
man,  may  prove  to  be  inexplicable  on  any  other 
principle  than  a  miraculous  intervention.  '  We 
think,'  he  observes,  '  that  the  philologist  may 
engage  to  make  out,  on  the  strictest  principles  of 
induction,  from  the  tenacity  with  which  all  com- 
munities cling  to  their  language,  and  the  slow  ob- 


XIV  PREFACE. 

served  rate  of  change  by  which  they  alter :  by  which 
Anglo-Saxon,  for  example,  has  become  English, 
Latin  Italian,  and  ancient  Greek  modern  (though 
these  languages  have  been  affected  by  every 
conceivable  cause  of  variation  and  depravation)  ; 
that  it  would  require  hundreds  of  thousands,  nay, 
millions  of  years  to  account  for  the  production, 
by  known  natural  causes,  of  the  vast  multitude 
of  totally  distinct  languages,  and  tens  of  thou- 
sands of  dialects,  which  man  now  utters.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  geologist  is  more  and  more 
persuaded  of  the  comparatively  recent  origin  of 
the  human  race.  What,  then,  is  to  harmonise 
these  conflicting  statements  1  Will  it  not  be 
curious  if  it  should  turn  out  that  nothing  can  pos- 
sibly harmonise  them  but  the  statement  of  Gene- 
sis, that  in  order  to  prevent  the  natural  tendency  of 
the  race  to  accumulate  on  one  spot,  and  facilitate 
their  dispersion  and  destined  occupancy  of  the 
globe,  a  preternatural  intervention  expedited  the 
operation  of  the  causes  which  would  gradually 
have  given  birth  to  distinct  languages  V* 

Other  examples,  of  the  service    rendered   to 
Revealed  Religion  by  Geology,  will  be  found  in 
*  For  Oct.,  1849,  p.  353. 


PREFACE.  XV 

the  following  pages.  Here  I  will  allude  only  to 
the  conclusions  deducible  from  the  proved  intro- 
duction of  new  races  of  plants  and  animals  into 
our  earth,  at  different  periods  of  its  history. 
These  special  interpositions  of  divine  power 
remove  all  antecedent  unlikelihood  to  the  work- 
ing of  miracles  for  sufficient  ends.  Between  the 
acts  in  question  there  is  no  essential  difference 
of  nature.  I  know  that  new  creations  have 
been  called  '  a  law ;'  but  miracles  are  a  law 
in  the  same  sense ;  for  the  meaning  of  such 
language  can  only  be,  that  the  effect  is  pro- 
duced in  conformity  with  plan,  and  with  due 
regard  to  harmony  of  operation  in  the  universe 
of  God.  Whether  a  race  be  created,  or  a  miracle 
be  performed,  each  has  its  proper  use,  place,  and 
connexion  :  and,  in  either  case,  God  is  not  the 
God  of  confusion,  but  of  order.  This  argument 
obviates  a  priori  objection  not  only  to  miracles, 
but  to  the  scheme  of  salvation  which  they  were 
designed  to  establish ;  and  I  desire  to  engage 
the  earnest  consider;!! ion  of  reflective  minds  for 
these  words  of  Dr.  Scouler, — '  Special  acts  of 
providence,  as  well  as  general  laws,  that  is,  the 
steady  purposes  of  wisdom,  arc  part  of  the  plan 


XVI  PREFACE. 

on  which  the  universe  is  governed.  If  we  ar«3 
thus  assured,  that  in  thousands  of  instances, 
during  the  vast  period  which  has  elapsed  since 
the  first  creation  of  living  beings  on  this  earth, 
interpositions  of  divine  power,  out  of  the  ordinary 
course  of  nature,  have  taken  place,  surely  every 
a  priori  objection  is  removed  to  the  probability 
of  interpositions  of  the  same  power  for  moral 
ends,  and  for  revealing  to  man  what  it  was 
infinitely  more  important  he  should  know,  than 
merely  biological  results,  his  own  real  nature, 
his  relation  to  the  Creator  of  all  things,  and  the 
means  of  securing  the  divine  favour.'* 

A  Christian  should  seek  to  know  more  of 
Geology  than  its  harmlessness.  It  treats  of  the 
works  of  God :  and  '  the  works  of  the  Lord  are 
great ;  sought  out  of  all  them  that  hare  pleasure 
therein.'  We  are  directed  by  Scripture  itself  to 
'  look  upon  the  earth  beneath,'  and  learn  what  it 
teaches  us  respecting  its  Maker.  '  In  his  hand 
are  the  deep  places  of  the  earth  :  the  strength*of 
the  hills  is  his  also.  The  sea  is  his.  and  he  made 
it ;  and  his  hands  formed  the  dry  land.'  If  we 
conduct  such  a  survey  as  these  words  indicate, 

*  Page  92,  etc,  of  this  Treatise. 


PREFACE.  XV11 

with  dutiful  diligence  and  a  becoming  spirit,  we 
shall  be  prompted  to  subjoin  with  the  inspired 
writer :  '  0  come,  let  us  worship  and  bow 
down  ;  let  us  kneel  before  the  Lord  our  Maker.' 
I  have  endeavoured,  in  the  third  and  last  part 
of  this  Treatise,  to  exhibit  such  pleasing  proofs 
of  the  Being  and  Perfections  of  God,  furnished 
by  Geology,  as  may  induce  the  reader  to  prose- 
cute the  subject  for  himself,  and  to  study  those 
larger  and  more  scientific  publications,  which, 
perhaps,  he  might  not  have  encountered  without 
an  introduction. 

With  all  the  high  sense  I  entertain  of  the 
importance  of  the  general  subject,  I  have  an 
humbling  and  painful  consciousness  of  my  in- 
competency to  do  it  justice.  And  I  would  not 
easily  have  been  induced  to  undertake  such  a 
volume,  simple  and  initiatory  as  it  is,  unless 
the  idea  had  occurred  to  me  that  I  might 
possibly  obtain  the  co-operation  of  my  much- 
esteemed  friend.  Professor  Scouler  of  Dublin, 
whose  general  eminence  as  a  man  of  science 
is  well  known  both  within  and  without  the 
scientific  world,  and  whose  superintendence  of 
the     Geological     Department    at    the     meeting 


XV111  PREFACE. 

of  the  British  Association  in  Glasgow  elicited 
universal  admiration.  He  most  kindly  assented 
to  the  joint  authorship,  so  soon  as  it  was 
proposed  to  him  ;  and  he  has  supplied  almost 
all  the  Foot-notes,  and  the  whole  of  the  Appen- 
dix for  this  Manual. 

It  is  due  to  Dr.  Scouler  to  state,  that  although 
he  suggested  amendments  on  the  text,  he  is  in  no 
sense  responsible  for  any  of  its  faults ;  and  that 
as  the  Treatise  was  submitted  to  his  inspection, 
in  detached  portions,  and  as,  in  many  instances, 
he  had  only  a  vague  idea  of  what  topics  I  was  to 
treat,  his  contributions  to  these  pages  have  been 
written  under  every  disadvantage. 

The  use  of  technical  language  has  been 
avoided  as  much  as  possible,  both  by  Dr.  Scouler 
and  by  myself.  Still,  it  could  not  be  altogether 
excluded.  The  copious  glossary  incorporated 
with  the  index  will  remove,  it  is  hoped,  any 
difficulty  arising  to  the  common  reader  from  this 
cause. 

It  is  time  to  close  this  Preface,  already  too 
extended.  The  estimate  of  a  work  is  seldom,  I 
believe,  much  influenced  by  prefatory  explana- 
tions.    In  the  consciousness  of  having  attempted 


PREFACE.  XIX 

to  do  a  service  to  sound  views  and  good  morals, 
I  commend  this  small  volume  to  the  candid  pe- 
rusal of  intelligent  readers,  and,  above  all,  to  the 
blessing  of  Him  who  has  put  the  best  of  treasures 
'  in  earthen  vessels,  that  the  excellency  of  the 
power  may  be  of  God,  and  not  of  us.' 

D.  K.  B. 
Glasgow,  March.  1850. 


INTRODUCTORY   OBSERVATIONS. 


If  we  were  introduced  into  a  stately  edifice, 
we  could  not  refrain  from  examining  its  structure 
and  contents.  We  might  not  be  qualified  to  pro- 
nounce a  well-instructed  judgment  on  any  of  all 
its  constituent  parts — to  compare  with  the  best 
models  of  art,  or  test  by  an  ideal  standard  of 
excellence,  the  form  of  its  pillars,  or  the  texture 
of  its  tapestry.  But  we  would  not  be  deterred, 
on  that  account,  from  looking  around  us,  and 
endeavouring  to  ascertain  the  age,  the  plan,  the 
size,  and  uses  of  the  building.  If  we  saw  much 
that  we  admired,  our  admiration  would  not  rest 
in  the  material  objects  by  which  it  was  im- 
mediately occasioned,  but  would  pass  to  that 
master-mind,  in  whose  creative  conception  the 
structure  arose,  and  completed  its  fair  propor- 
tions and  symmetry,  before  a  stone  of  it  was 
laid,  or  the  perception  of  sense  could  discover  its 
existence. 

A 


M  INTRODUCTORY    OBSERVATIONS. 

Now,  this  world  is  a  majestic  dwelling.  What 
palace  of  royalty  is  comparable  to  it  in  excel- 
lence.'' What  lustre  can  rival  its  great  lights? 
What  cisterns  can  come  into  competition  with  its 
mighty  ocean  ?  What  carpeting  can  vie  in  beauty 
and  richness  with  its  luxuriant  vegetation?  It 
is  not  the  part  of  rational  beings  to  occupy  such 
a  home  and  pay  no  attention  to  its  materials 
and  configuration.  We  take  some  position  in 
the  landscape.  Around  us  are  numerous  objects, 
all  of  which  have  a  history,  if  it  can  only  be 
found  and  deciphered.  Whence  flow  these 
streams  ?  How  were  those  mountains  elevated  % 
Why  have  we  soft  earth  here,  and  hard  stone 
there  ?  How  happens  it  that  one  mass  of  rock  is 
homogeneous  in  its  aspect,  while  another  has  a 
laminated  structure,  and  abounds  in  varied  and 
distiuguishable  ingredients  1 

Without  profound  or  varied  scientific  know- 
ledge, we  can  perceive  the  uses  of  individual 
parts ;  we  can  mark  the  relations  between  some 
of  them  and  others ;  we  find  them  associated  in 
constituting  a  magnificent  whole  ;  and,  if  a  puny 
building  brings  before  us  the  builder,  and  se- 
cures him  the  homage  paid  cheerfully  to  genius, 


INTRODUCTORY  OBSERVATIONS.       3 

how  shall  we  survey  this  fair  creation — so  capa- 
cious, and  well-ordered,  and  munificently  stored 
— and  not  rise  from  the  work  to  the  Agent,  from 
the  gift  to  the  Benefactor,  till  even  these  stu- 
pendous wonders  around  us  are  forgotten  in  the 
admiration  of  perfections,  by  which  they  are 
infinitely  transcended ! 

'  These  are  thy  glorious  works,  Parent  of  good- 
Almighty  !  thine  this  universal  frame, 
Thus  wondrous  fair!  thyself  how  wondrous,  then! 
Unspeakable  !  who  sit'st  above  these  heavens, 
To  us  invisible,  or  dimly  seen 
In  these  thy  lowest  works  ;  yet  these  declare 
Thy  goodness  beyond  thought,  and  power  divine.' 

Parad.  Lost,  b.  v. 

In  these  preliminary  observations,  I  have 
shortly  developed  the  nature  of  the  argument, 
derived  from  final  causes,  for  the  Being  and  Per- 
fections of  G-od.  It  may  be  thus  expressed  more 
formally  :  Whatever  proves  design,  proves  the 
existence  of  a  designing  agent.  If  the  design 
manifested  were  small  in  its  character,  there 
would  be  no  need  to  suppose  the  agent  great. 
But  if  the  design  shown  be  so  vast,  so  grand,  so 
stupendous,  so  overwhelming,  that   wo   cannot 


4  INTRODUCTORY    OBSERVATIONS. 

reasonably  ascribe  it  to  a  finite  intelligence,  then 
we  should  recognise  in  it  a  divine  authorship,  and 
acknowledge  the  existence  of  an  infinite  Creator. 
I  trust  that  the  globe  which  we  inhabit  will  be 
seen  to  furnish  such  a  proof  of  the  divine  ex- 
istence and  attributes,  while,  in  a  manner  brief 
and  imperfect,  I  treat  Geology*  as  a  branch  of 
Natural  Theology.  It  is  first  of  all  necessary, 
however,  to  understand  the  facts  disclosed  by  a 
science,  before  we  can  found  reasoning  upon  them. 
And  as  science  and  Scripture  have  been  supposed, 
in  this  case,  to  militate  against  one  another,  some 
remarks  on  their  accordance  may  be  farther 
useful,  in  composing  our  minds  for  a  calm  con- 
sideration of  the  proof  of  design  in  this  depart- 
ment of  creation.     I  propose,  therefore, — 

I.  To  explain  shortly  the  Principles  of  Modern 
Geology  ;  then 

II.  To  remark  on  their  accordance  with  Scrip- 
ture ;  and 

III.  To  consider  their  moral  application,  re- 
garded as  a  sub-division  of  Natural  Theology. 

*  From  yea,  gea,  earth,  and  \oyos,  logos,  a  discourse. 
A  science  treating  of  the  constituents  and  history  of  the 
earth. 


PRINCIPLES  OF  MODERN  GEOLOGY. 


L 


PRINCIPLES  OF  MODERN  GEOLOGY. 

I  propose  to  explain  the  Principles  of  Modern 
Geology. — Some  acquaintance  with  it,  as  I  have 
already  said,  is  a  requisite  preparation  for  the 
disquisitions  which  are  to  follow.  At  the  same 
time,  as  the  main  design  of  this  Treatise  is  not 
to  expound  Geology,  strictly  and  simply  consid- 
ered, I  will  make  my  explanations  of  it  as  few 
and  as  brief  as  possible.  If,  in  my  extreme  solici- 
tude to  make  myself  intelligible  to  the  non-geo- 
logical section  of  society,  I  may  sometimes  de- 
viate from  a  technical  accuracy,  I  hope  that  the 
more  informed  reader  will  excuse  this  occasional 
looseness  of  expression. 

A  proper  understanding  of  the  nature  of 
Rocks,  may  be  regarded  as  a  key  to  the  compre- 
hension of  the  whole  subject.  When  we  speak 
of  rocks,  we  must  not  think  merely  of  isolated 
blocks,  strewing  a  sea-shore,  or  heaped  upon  one 


6  PRINCIPLES    OF    MODERN    GEOLOGY. 

another  to  form  a  few  natural  promontories.  We 
must  think  of  extended  mineral  masses,  consti- 
tuting whole  mountain-chains,  and  lying  under 
plains  and  valleys  themselves.  Nor  is  the  term 
Rock  restricted  to  hard  stony  substances.  It  is 
used  comprehensively  of  the  softest  soils,  because 
the  same  materials  may  be  either  incoherent  or 
indurated,  and  their  transition  from  the  one  state 
to  the  other  is  often  undefined  and  insensible. 

Rocks  may  be  divided  generally  into  the 
Aqueous  and  the  Igneous.  c  Continents  and 
mountain-chains,  colossal  as  are  their  dimen- 
sions, are  nothing  more  than  an  assemblage  of 
many  such  igneous  and  aqueous  groups,  formed 
in  succession  during  an  indefinite  lapse  of  ages, 
and  superimposed  upon  each  other.'* 

AQUEOUS     ROCKS. 

The  Aqueous  Rocks  are  sometimes  called 
Sedimentary ',  because  they  form  a  sediment  de- 
posited in  water.  If  we  take  a  pitcher  of  turbid 
water,  and  allow  it  to  become  quiescent,  there 
will,  by  and  by,  be  a  muddy  deposit  found    in 

*  Lyell's  Princip.  of  Geol.,  vol.  iv.,  b.  iv.,  ch.  17. 


AQUEOUS    ROCKS.  7 

the  bottom.  And  this  familiar  instance,  with 
allowance  for  the  modifying  action  of  currents, 
illustrates,  on  a  small  scale,  the  manner  in 
which  all  our  sandstone  quarries  have  resulted 
from  substances,  suspended  in  lakes  and  seas, 
gradually  sinking  by  their  weight,  and  becoming 
accumulated  in  the  channel.  Aqueous  Rocks 
are  also  said  to  be  stratified,  because  they  are 
strewed  with  considerable  regularity,  and  form 
successive  strata,  or  layers,  imposed  on  one 
another.  They  are  also  said  to  be  fossiliferous, 
when  they  contain  fossils  or  remains  of  vegeta- 
bles and  animals  embedded  in  their  substance. 

The  older  fossils  are  generally  in  a  petrified 
state.  In  such  cases,  bone  and  wood  have  not 
been  converted  into  stone,  but  have  become 
saturated  with  mineral  matter,  or  wholly  re- 
placed by  it ;  and  the  manner  in  which  such 
combinations  and  exchanges  of  substance  take 
place,  while  the  most  perfect  delicacy  of  filaments 
and  tissue  is  preserved,  and  the  most  microscopic 
details  of  internal  structure  are  shown,  is  a  sub- 
ject of  great  interest,  and  one  as  yet  imperfectly 
understood. 

In  these  few  words  I  have  described  cursorily 


8  PRINCIPLES    OF    MODERN    GEOLOGY. 

the  nature  of  sedimentary  rocks,  which  consti- 
tute so  considerable  a  portion  of  the  crust  of 
the  earth.  They  are  nothing  else  than  accumu- 
lations of  transported  and  deposited  matters, 
which  often  enclose  relics  of  life,  especially  such 
as  have  belonged  to  the  inhabitants  of  the 
ocean. 

But  if  the  subject  be  new  to  my  reader,  the 
account  given  will  seem  to  be  strange  and  inade- 
quate. Whence,  he  will  be  disposed  to  ask,  can 
there  have  been  obtained  a  supply  of  sedimentary 
detritus  sufficient  to  constitute  the  material  of 
islands  and  continents?  The  objection  is  natu- 
ral, but  not  insurmountable.  Our  most  fertile 
lands  bear  evident  marks  of  being  transported 
matter.  Such  are  the  carses  of  the  Forth  and 
Tay,  and  such,  on  a  scale  more  gigantic,  are  the 
plains  of  Assyria  and  Bengal,  and  the  deltas  of 
great  rivers,  as  of  the  Niger  and  the  Mississippi. 
Demerara  has  this  character,  and  may  be  con- 
sidered a  carse  of  the  Orinoco.  The  river  Nile, 
alone,  is  estimated  to  carry  down  to  the  sea 
every  year  above  three  thousand  millions  of 
cubic  feet  of  detritus,  or  as  much  as  would  build 
forty  pyramids   of  the   largest  dimensions.     In 


AQUEOUS    ROCKS.  9 

fact,  the  whole  of  Egypt  seems  to  be  an  accu- 
mulation of  fine  clay,  transported  by  its  goodly 
river  from  remoter  and  loftier  regions.  Inde- 
pendently of  the  action  of  rivers,  the  ocean  is 
constantly  wearing  down  the  rocks  which  it 
washes,  and  daily  reducing  into  sedimentary 
substance  vast  quantities  of  their  material,  which 
comes  to  be  diffused  by  tides  and  currents  over 
the  bed  of  the  sea,  and  sifted  by  the  joint  action 
of  gravity  and  water  in  motion.  But  sediment, 
it  may  be  said,  is  soft  and  loose,  and  never,  at  all 
events,  attains  the  consistency  of  rock.  This  is 
a  mistake.  Certain  substances,  such  as  limestone, 
become  hard  immediately  on  being  precipitated 
from  water.  And  there  are  various  ways  in 
which  the  hardening  of  watery  deposits  can  be 
rationally   enough    accounted   for.*      The  mud 

*  Stratified  rocks,  that  is,  deposits  from  water,  may  be 
solidified  in  many  ways.  Solid  matter  may  exist  in  water 
either  in  a  state  of  chemical  solution  or  mechanical  suspen- 
sion. Deposits  from  a  solution  are  aggregations  of  crys- 
tals, and  usually  coherent :  such  is  the  nature  of  some 
calcareous  and  silicious  rocks,  which  are  formed  in  the 
same  manner  as  refined  sugar  or  salt,  from  the  evaporation 
of  sea-water.  By  far  the  greater  number  of  rocks  have 
been  derived  from  matters  held  in  suspension  in  water,  and 
such  were,  of  course,  originally  merely  loose  and  incoherent 
masses  of  sand  or  clay  :  thus  solidification  has  been  a  sub- 


10         PRINCIPLES    OF    MODERN    GEOLOGY. 

above  presses  the  mud  beneath,  and  mere  pres- 
sure, if  heavy  and  prolonged,  may  fasten  the 
component  particles  together.  There  is  oftener, 
however,  an  admixture  of  cementing  substances, 
as  of  lime  or  iron,  and  this  carried  among  the 
particles,  by  permeating  water,  indurates  the 
whole  mass. 

As  to  the  fossils,  we  may  easily  conceive  how 
fish  and  sea-weed,  dying  in  their  proper  domains, 
may  be  entombed  in  the  strata  ;  and  the  same 
may  happen  with  any  vegetable  or  animal  pro- 
ductions, drifted  by  currents  from  their  original 
sites  to  the  spots  where  they  are  found. 

The  facts  which  I  have  thus  cursorily  men- 
tioned,   furnish    some    of    the    data    on    which 


sequent  process.  Both  the  manner  in  which  stratified 
deposits  have  been  solidified,  and  the  period  of  time  which 
the  process  may  have  occupied,  are  exceedingly  various. 
Mechanical  deposits  may  be  rendered  coherent  by  the  in- 
filtration of  some  cementing  substance,  and  loose  sand  may 
be  changed  into  solid  quartz  rock  from  being  percolated  by 
water  holding  silica  in  solution.  As  sedimentary  matters 
are  of  a  very  heterogeneous  composition,  the  chemical  reac- 
tions of  their  contents  will  produce  solid  rocks,  just  as  a 
mixture  of  fine  sand  and  iron  filings  will,  if  exposed  to  the 
weather,  become  a  hard  mass.  The  long-continued  action 
of  heat  will  also  cause  the  cohesion  of  sediments,  and 
this  influence  has  operated  very  extensively  in  nature.    S. 


IGNEOUS    ROCKS.  H 

modern  geologists  found  their  speculations.  They 
account  for  the  varied  composition  of  strata,  by 
the  diversity  of  the  rocks  from  which  they  have 
been  derived,  and  note  the  order  in  which  the 
distinctive  layers  have  been  superimposed  on  each 
other,  as  affording  an  infallible  criterion  of  rela- 
tive age.  And  so  they  make  out  a  classification 
and  history,  of  which  the  trustworthiness  depends 
on  the  certainty  of  the  facts,  and  the  soundness  of 
the  deductions.  A  principal  importance  attaches 
to  the  fossils :  because  some  found  in  certain  layers 
are  not  found  in  others,  and  their  presence  or  ab- 
sence in  particular  localities,  furnishes  large  and 
varied  subject  of  consideration,  and  widens  the 
range  of  the  teaching  of  nature  to  '  the  utmost 
bounds  of  the  everlasting  hills.' 

IGNEOUS  ROCKS. 

Thus  far  I  have  spoken  of  Aqueous  Rocks,  or 
rocks  formed  in  water.  Let  me  add  a  few  re- 
marks on  Igneous  Rocks,  or  those  rocks  which 
give  evidence  of  the  action  of  fire. 

There  is  certainly  known  to  be  a  vast  amount 
of  heat  in  the  globe.  Some  consider  it  one 
ocean  of  fiery  liquid,  with  a  crust  over  it,  which 


12    PRINCIPLES  OF  MODERN  GEOLOGY. 

we  inhabit.  Some  think  that  the  heat  is  migra- 
tory; and  is  now  developed  more  in  one  direc- 
tion and  now  in  another.  Be  that  as  it  may. 
the  heat  is  intense,  and  widely  diffused,  and 
cannot  fail  to  produce  important  effects  in  the 
regions  where  it  operates.  It  may  half  melt 
rocks,  before  aqueous  in  their  character  ;  so  that 
we  may  still  discern  the  strata,  but  in  a  very 
different  condition.  And  this  is  supposed  to  be 
the  case  with  our  slates  retaining  marks  of  stra- 
tification, but  having  a  structure  very  different 
from  any  which  could  have  been  derived  simply 
from  the  process  of  deposition  from  water,  and 
in  many  places  quite  crystallised.  'Whether 
electricity  or  any  other  causes  have  co-operated 
with  heat  to  produce  this  influence,  may  be  mat- 
ter of  speculation.'* 

Again,  the  subterranean  fire  may  entirely 
melt  the  rocks  with  which  it  comes  in  contact, 
and  these  may  afterwards  be  cooled  and  solidi- 
fied far  down  in  the  earth.  The  rocks  which 
are  termed  granites  are  understood  to  have 
been   thus   formed.      They   are   highly   crystal- 

*  Lyell's  Elem.  of  Geol.,  part  i.,  ch.  i. 


IGNEOUS    ROCKS,.  13 

line    in   their   structure,  and   the  mode  of  for- 
mation   supposed   would    be   favourable    to   the 
process   of  crystallisation.      They  are   not   mixed 
with  the   porous   and   cellular   substances  which 
are  found   in    alliance    with    erupted    rock,   and 
which   derive   their  state  from   the  expansion  of 
contained  gases  and  from   exposure  to  the  atmos- 
phere.     They  are  seldom,  if  ever,  found  to  have 
spread  themselves  over  other  formations.     They 
send  veins  occasionally  into  adjacent   rocks,  but 
do  not   seem    to  have  overflowed  them.     From 
such  facts  geologists  are  led  to  infer,  that  granite 
passed  from  a  state  of  fusion  into  a  state  of  soli- 
dity at  great   subterranean   depths,  and    that   it 
afterwards  became  exposed,  as  now  consolidated, 
by  denudation,  or  from   having  been  forced  up  in 
a  hard  state  through  overlying  deposits.      It  is  a 
striking  circumstance,  that  no  pebble  of  granite 
is  found  in  the  red  sandstone  conglomerates  of 
Arran,   though   the   mountains    which   now  give 
it   its   character  of  boldness  and   sublimity  con- 
sist of  granite,  and  though  morsels   and  blocks 
of   this  stone   are   strewed   plentifully   over   the 
island,  and   over  the   adjoining  mainland.      The 
inference  is,  that  the  granitic  masses  were  not 


14         PRINCIPLES    OF    MODERN    GEOLOGV. 

elevated  and  exposed  when  the  pudding  stones 
were  formed  ;  and  the  probability  is,  that  their 
present  prominence  is  due  both  to  upheaval, 
which  raised  them  aloft  in  a  solid  condition,  and 
to  aqueous  denudation,  which  washed  away  the 
superincumbent  strata. 

Or,  finally,  the  heat  may  melt  rocks,  and  the 
melted  matter  may  rise  to,  or  near  to,  the  surface 
through  volcanic  openings,  and  in  some  instances, 
may  spread  itself  as  lava  over  the  adjoining  terri- 
tories. Of  this  nature,  in  the  opinion  of  modern 
geologists,  are  our  w hi ns tones,  or  generally  the 
trap  rocks,  with  their  various  sub-divisions.  All 
such  facts  are  instructive  to  the  geologist ;  but 
on  the  whole,  the  igneous  rocks,  from  wanting 
fossils,  do  not  afford  equal  materials  for  comment 
and  inference  as  the  watery  formations. 

I  shall  have  occasion  to  state  many  more  facts 
related  to  geology ;  but  they  will  be  best  intro- 
duced in  connection  with  the  principles  which 
they  will  be  employed  to  elucidate  or  establish. 

It  may  be  proper,  before  I  conclude  this  Part, 
to  give  the  reader  a  tabular  view  of  the  fossUi- 
ferous  strata,  as  they  have  been  arranged  in  the 
systems   and  nomenclature  of   Geologists.      He 


FOSSILIFEROUS    STRATA.  15 

must  remember,  that  they  have  been  deposited 
in  succession,  and  that  each  of  them  was  at  one 
time  the  uppermost,  receiving  the  deposits  which 
fell  on  it  from  superincumbent  waters,  till  these 
new  deposits  formed  a  new  stratum,  and  added 
another  to  the  ascending  series.  It  must  also 
be  kept  in  mind,  that  though  all  the  groups  of 
strata,  so  far  as  they  have  been  observed  in 
Western  Europe,  are  exhibited  in  the  table,  the 
series  is  not  understood  to  be  actually  complete 
in  any  one  part  of  the  globe.  Where  land  was 
in  a  state  of  elevation  above  the  sea,  it  could  not 
receive  the  sediment  thrown  down  by  its  waters, 
and  it  must  be  consequently  devoid  of  the  forma- 
tions of  that  period.  Even  where  strata  have 
been  formed,  what  is  called  denudation  has 
often  taken  place,  and  the  newer  strata  have  been 
swept  away,  leaving  others  which  are  older  un- 
covered. Geologists  hold  themselves  justified  in 
their  classification,  if  so  often  as  a  stratum  ap- 
pears it  is  always  found  in  the  place  assigned  to 
it  relatively  to  the  others.  The  strata  have  been 
distributed  into  three  great  divisions.  The  lower- 
most, which  are  of  course  the  oldest,  have  been 
called  the  Primary ;  the  next  of  depth  and  age 


16         PRINCIPLES    OF    MODERN    GEOLOGY. 

have  been  called  the  Secondary:  and  the  more 
recent  have  got  the  appellation  of  Tertiary.  I 
have  introduced  these  divisions  and  their  sub- 
divisions as  they  are  presented  to  us  in  Sir 
C.  Lyell's  Elements  of  Geology,  only  prefixing 
the  Post-Tertiary  Series  and  appending  to  the 
several  sections  some  brief  explanations  derived 
from  various  sources.  It  is  awkward,  perhaps, 
to  blend  the  compendious  and  the  precise  ;  but 
my  object  will  be  gained  if  the  particulars  men- 
tioned shall  render  the  general  classifications 
more  intelligible  and  memorable  : — 

GROUPS  OF  FOSSILIFEROUS  STRATA  OBSERVED 
IN  WESTERN  EUROPE, 

Arranged  in  what  is  termed  a  Descending  Series,  or  begin- 
ning with  the  Newest. 

Post-Tertiary  Series. 

This  group  is  now  in  the  course  of  formation.  It  includes 
all  geological  phenomena  which  have  had  their  origin 
since  the  close  of  the  Tertiary  period.  Here  we  have 
the  bones  of  man  in  a  fossil  state,  and  articles  fabri- 
cated by  man.  Comprehends  beds  of  shelly  gravel, 
the  shells  in  which  are  of  existing  species. 

Tertiary,  or  Supra  Cretaceous,  i.  e.,  above  the  Chalk 
with  which  the  uppermost  of  the  Secondary  series 
commences. 


POST-TERTIARY    SERIES.  17 

1.  Newer  pliocene, — i.e.  Newer  of  the  '  more  recent' Tertiary 
strata,  [from  rrXetwy,  pleion,  more,  and  naivas,  cainoa, 
recent.]  The  period  of  this  group  has  been  called 
'the  epoch  of  gigantic  mammalia.' — In  this  'period, 
immediately  preceding  the  existence  of  man,  the 
earth  teemed  with  large  herbiverous  animals,  which 
roamed  through  the  primeval  forests  unmolested 
save  by  beasts  of  prey.'— Mantett.  'Its  remains  are 
principally  those  of  animals  related  to  the  elephant,  as 
the  mammoth,  mastodon,  etc.,  and  to  various  species 
of  hippopotamus,  rhinoceros,  horse,  ox,  deer,  and  many 
of  extinct  genera;  while,  in  caverns  and  fissures  of 
rocks,  the  skeletons  of  tigers,  boars,  hyenas,  and  other 
carniverous  animals,  are  embedded.' — Ibid.  The  teeth 
of  elephants,  collected  on  the  coasts  of  Norfolk  and 
Suffolk  alone,  according  to  Mr.  Woodward,  have  be- 
longed to  500  individuals. 

2.  Older  pliocene,—;*,  e.  Older  of  the  '  more  recent '   Ter- 

tiary strata.  To  this  group  belongs  a  deposit  called 
the  'crag.'  In  the  eastern  part  of  the  county  of  Suf- 
folk, it  is  seen  in  its  most  characteristic  form.  In 
part  of  Suffolk,  it  consists  of  two  masses, — the  upper 
of  which  has  been  called  red  crag,  and  the  lower  cor- 
al crag.  The  two  are  exceedingly  distinguishable 
in  mineral  composition  and  fossils,  and  geologists 
have  felt  some  difficulty  in  accounting  for  the  dif- 
ference. 

3.  Miocene,—  ',  e.  'Less  recent'  than  No?   1  and  2,  [from 

ftctiov,  meion,  less,  and  kcuvo;,  cainos,  recent.]  The 
Tertiary  deposits  of  England  are  limited  to  the  Eocene, 
and  the  older  and  newer  Pliocenes, — the  Miocene  being 
wanting.'— Lyell. 

4.  Eocene, — i.  e.  New  dawn,  [^wj,  eos,  dawn,  and  naivos, 

cainosy  recent.]    So  called  because  among  the  remains 

B 


18         PRINCIPLES    OF    MODERN    GEOLOGY. 

of  extinct  species  some  remains,  though  in  a  small 
proportion,  of  living  species,  begin  here  to  be  discov- 
ered, so  that  the  new  or  present  state  of  the  world 
dawns  upon  us.  To  this  group  belongs  the  London 
clay,  so  called  because  it  is  found  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  the  metropolis,  in  a  basin  of  the  underlying  chalk. 
The  fossils  differ  widely  from  the  overlying  crag.  The 
shells  resemble  those  of  the  tropics,  but  few  of  them 
are  identical  with  living  species.  '  Some  fish,  also, 
such  as,  a  sword-fish,  about  eight  feet  long,  and  a 
saw-fish,  about  ten  feet  in  length,  indicate  a  warm  cli- 
mate.'— LyelL 


Secondary. 

5.  Chalk, — so  called   because   it  consists   in   part  of  that 

white  earthy  limestone  to  which  the  name  chalk 
is  applied.  Abounds  in  marine  remains,  as  corals, 
sponges,  shell-fish.  Contains  some  reptiles.  With 
the  termination  of  the  secondary  period  the  ammonite 
ceased  to  exist.  It  is  found  here  and  in  the  under 
strata,  but  not  in  any  overlying  deposit.  The  ammo- 
nites derive  their  name  from  their  supposed  resem- 
blance to  the  horns  of  the  statues  of  Jupiter  Amnion. 
'  All  the  appearances  concur  in  leading  us  to  believe 
that  this  deposit  was  formed  in  a  deep  sea,  far  from 
land,  and  at  a  time  when  the  European  fauna  [race  of 
animals]  was  perfectly  distinct  from  the  Tertiary  pe- 
riod.'— LyelL 

6.  Green  sand, — so  called  because  some  of  the  sands  of 

this  formation  have  a  bright  green  colour.  The  green 
grains  consist  mostly  of  silicate  of  iron.  Fossils  similar 
to  those  of  the  chalk,  but  generally  of  different  species. 
'  Unlike  the  white  chalk  [remarkable  for  its  purity] 
this  deposit  consists  of  a  succession  of  ordinary  beds 


SECONDARY    SERIES.  19 

of  sand,  clay,  marl,  and  impure  limestone,  the  materials 
of  which  would  result  from  the  wearing  down  of  pre- 
existing rocks.' — Lyell. 

Wealden.— The  sub-divisions  of  this  group  may  be  best 
studied  in  that  part  of  Kent,  Surrey,  and  Sussex  which 
is  called  the  Weald— hence  the  name.  It  also  appears 
in  the  opposite  coast  of  France.  The  shells  of  this 
group  are  almost  exclusively  those  of  lakes  and  rivers, 
and  though  it  is  not  very  extensive,  it  is  deemed  cf 
great  interest  as  being  a  fresh-water  formation  inter- 
posed between  marine  formations.  Contains  numerous 
and  various  remains  of  terrestrial  plants  and  animals. 
Tortoises,  like  the  genera  now  found  in  tropical  regions. 
At  least  five  genera  of  Saurian  Lizards  ;  one  of  which, 
the  Iguanodon,  was  of  vast  length.  '  Length  from 
the  mouth  to  the  tip  of  the  tail  70  feet.' — Mantell. 
'Thigh  bones  8  inches  in  diameter.  Such  bones, 
if  covered  with  muscles  and  integuments,  would 
form  limbs  upwards  of  7  feet  in  circumference.' — 2b. 
'Some  individuals  must  have  far  exceeded  this  esti- 
mate.'— lb.  Other  writers  consider  these  dimensions 
exaggerated.  *  While  the  bones  of  the  extremities 
were  perhaps  six  or  eight  times  larger  than  those 
of  the  most  gigantic  alligator,  the  whole  length  of 
the  iguanodon  is  not  likely  to  have  exceeded  thirty 
feet.' — Ansted. 

,  Upper  Oolite,  or  egg-stone,  [ojop,  oon,  \idos,  lUhos,] 
a  variety  of  limestone  composed  of  rounded  particles, 
like  the  roe  or  eggs  of  a  fish.  The  name  has  been 
given  to  a  whole  group  in  which  this  limestone  occurs. 
Here,  we  have  a  great  series  of  marine  strata  under 
the  Wealden,  a  fresh-water  deposit. 

.  Middle  Oolite. — '  One  of  the  limestones  of  the  Middle 
Oolite  has  been  called  the    "  Coral  Rng,"    because  it 


20         PRINCIPLES    OF    MODERN    OEOLOGV. 

consists  in  part  of  continuous  beds  of  petrified  coral, 
for  the  most  part  retaining  the  position  in  which  they 
grew  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea.' — Lydl.  Another  sub- 
division is  the  Oxford  clay. 

10.  Lower  Oolite.— 'The  slate  of  Stonesfield,  only  six  feet 

thick,  but  abounding  in  fossils,  has  been  shown  to  be 
at  the  base  of  the  inferior  Oolite.  Besides  fragments 
of  wood  which  occur  in  all  parts  of  the  Oolitic  group, 
there  are  many  impressions  of  ferns,  cycadese,  and 
other  terrestrial  plants.  Several  insects,  also,  and 
among  the  rest  the  wing  covers  of  beetles  are  per- 
fectly preserved.'  —  Lydl.  In  these  strata  are  the 
earliest  remains  of  terrestrial  mammalia  as  yet 
found. 

11.  Lias. — This  is  a  provincial  name  for  a  particular  kind 

of  limestone, — here  employed  to  denote  a  group  of 
strata  in  which  it  is  found.  Classed  by  some  geolo- 
gists with  the  Oolitic  strata.  The  fossil  fish  resemble 
generically  those  of  the  Oolite,  are  all  of  extinct  genera. 
and  differ  widely  from  those  of  the  Chalk.  'It  is  not, 
however,  the  fossil  fish  which  form  the  most  striking 
feature  in  the  organic  remains  of  the  Lias ;  but  the 
reptiles  which  are  extraordinary  for  their  number,  size, 
and  structure.  Among  the  most  singular  of  these  are 
several  species  of  Ichthyosaurus  and  Plesiosaurus.  .  . 
It  is  evident  from  their  fish-like  vertebrae,  their  pad- 
dles, resembling  those  of  a  porpoise  or  whale,  the 
length  of  their  tail,  and  other  parts  of  their  structure, 
that  the  habits  of  the  Ichthyosaurus  [fish-lizard]  were 
aquatic.  Their  jaws  and  teeth  show  that  they  were 
carnivorous  ;  and  the  half-digested  remains  of  fishes 
and  reptiles  found  within  their  skeletons,  indicate 
the  precise  nature  of  their  food.' —  Lydl.  The  ge- 
nus Ichthyosaurus  is  not  confined  to  this  forma- 
tion.'— lb. 


SECONDARY    SERIES.  21 

12.  Upper  New  Red  Sandstone,  and  Muschelkalk.     Called 

also  Triassic  System.— The  sandstone  of  this  group  is 
called  red,  because  much  of  it  is  stained  by  oxide  of 
iron.  There  is  found  associated  with  it  in  Germany 
a  great  chalky  formation,  called  the  Muschelkalk  or 
Shelly-limestone.  'It  is  in  this  system  that  rock-salt 
and  salt  springs  occur  in  Cheshire  and  other  parts  of 
England.'— Lyell.  '  A  few  traces  only  of  fossil  shells, 
fish,  and  plants,  have  been  detected  in  this  formation 
in  England.' — lb. 

13.  Magnesian  Limestone  System,— i.  e.,  stone  composed 
of  carbonate  of  lime  and  carbonate  of  magnesia,  some- 
times in  nearly  equal  proportions :  and  Lower  New 
Red  Sandstone.  Called  also  Permian  System.— It 
was  first  pointed  out  by  M.  Agassiz,  that  all  the  bony 
fish  of  the  Magnesian  Limestone,  and  of  all  the 
more  ancient  formations,  have  the  vertebral  column 
continued  into  the  upper  lobe  of  the  tail,  which  is 
much  longer  than  the  lower  lobe,  whereas,  in  strata 
newer  than  the  Magnesian  Limestone,  the  tail-fin  is 
divided  into  two  equal  lobes,  as  in  most  living 
fishes,  the  vertebra?  not  being  prolonged  into  either 
lobe. 

14.  Coal.— The  bulk  of  this  formation  consists  of  sand- 
stone, shale,  and  limestone;  but  many  beds  of  coal 
are  interstratified  with  them— hence  the  whole  are 
called  carboniferous  or  coal-bearing.  'The  coal  is 
entirely  compressed  land  vegetation,  chiefly  from  trees 
of  great  size,  whose  stems,  branches,  leaves,  etc.,  are 
abundant  in  or  on  the  interposed  shales  and  sands.'— 
Dr.  P.  Smith.  '  One  of  the  most  remarkable  pecu- 
liarities of  the  coal  fossils  is  the  singular  preponder- 
ance of  the  tribe  of  ferns,  and  the  great  variety  of  form 
in  which  plants  of  this  kind  are  developed.'— Ansted. 


22  PRINCIPLES    OF    MODERN    GEOLOGY. 

15.  Old  Red  Sandstone.  Called  also  Devonian  System. — 
In  the  Lower  Old  Red  Sandstone  the  ganoids  first 
appear. — H.  Miller.  So  far  as  is  yet  known,  all 
the  fish  of  the  earliest  fossiliferous  system  (Primary, 
exhibited  below)  belonged  to  the  placoid,  or  broad- 
plated  order— a  great  division  of  fishes  represented  in 
the  existing  seas  by  the  sharks  and  rays. — lb.  In  ac- 
commodation to  the  mutilated  state  in  which  fossil 
fishes  are  frequently  found,  Agassiz  classified  them  ac- 
cording to  the  structure  of  the  scales.  He  divided 
them  into  four  orders.  (1.)  Placoidians  (from  7rXa|. 
plaz;  a  broad  plate.)  (2.)  Ganoidians  (from  yavoc, 
ganos,  splendour,  because  of  the  brilliant  surface  of 
their  enamel.)  (3.)  Ctenoi'dians,  from  ictus,  dels,  a 
comb.)  (4.)  Cycloidians  (from  kvk\qs,  cuclos,  a  circle.) 
'  It  is  not  too  much  to  affirm,  that  in  the  compara- 
tively small  portion  which  this  cluster  of  islands  (the 
Orkneys)  contains  of  the  third  part  of  a  system  (the 
Lower  Old  Red  Sandstone),  regarded  only  a  few  years 
ago  as  the  least  fossiliferous  in  the  geologic  scale, 
there  are  more  fossil  fish  enclosed  than  in  every  other 
geologic  system  in  England,  Scotland  and  Wales,  from 
the  coal  measures  to  the  chalk,  inclusive.  Orkney 
could  supply  with  ichthyoltes  (fossil  fishes)  by  the  ton 
and  the  ship  load,  the  museums  of  the  world.' — ff. 
Miller. 

Primary  Fossiliferous  or  Transition. 

16.  Upper  Silurian, — so  called  by  Sir  R.  Murchison  from 
that  part  of  England  and  Wales  which  constituted  the 
ancient  British  kingdom  of  the  Silures,  where  this 
group  can  be  best  studied.  'The  most  remarkable 
fossils  are  the  scales,  ichthyudorulites  [bony  spines 
forming  the  anterior  part  of  th  ■  d  >rsal  fin,]  jaws,  teeth, 
and  coprolites  [excrements]  of  fish  of  the  Upper  Lud- 


PRIMARY     FOSSILIFEROUS.  23 

low  rock.  As  they  are  the  oldest  remains  of  verte- 
brated  animals  yet  known  to  geologists,  it  is  worthy  of 
notice  that  they  belong  to  fish  of  a  high  or  very  perfect 
organisation.' — Lycll. 

17.  Lower  Silurian.  '  It  is  an  interesting  fact,  that  with 
many  extinct  forms  of  testacea  [animals  devoid  of 
bones,  with  soft  bouies.  and  having  a  shelly  covering] 
peculiar  to  the  Lower  Silurian,  others  are  associated 
belonging  to  genera  still  existing,  as  nautilus,  turbo, 
buccinum,  turritella,  terebratula,  and  orbicula.' — Lycll 
on  the  authority  of  Murchison.  'No  land  plants  seem 
yet  to  have  been  discovered  in  strata  which  can  be 
unequivocally  demonstrated  to  belong  to  the  Silurian 
period.' — lb. 

18.  Cambrian    and    older  fossiliferous    strata.      Professor 

Sedgwick  has  given  to  this  group  of  rocks  the  name 
Cambrian,  because  it  is  largely  developed  in  North 
Wales.  There  succeeds  a  group  called  the  Cumbrian 
(studied  with  advantage  in  Cumberland),  in  the  upper 
portion  of  which  some  fossils  are  found,  and  these  are 
the  oldest  monuments  of  life  as  yet  discovered. 

I  may  add,  that  under  these  fossiliferous  strata 
we  have  very  extensive  deposits,  which  the  older 
geologists  called  primitive.  They  are  now  called 
non-fossiliferous,  or  metamorphic.  They  contain 
marks  of  stratification,  but  instead  of  being  me- 
chanical aggregates,  they  are  highly  crystalline, 
in  consequence,  as  is  thought,  of  having  been 
subjected  to  igneous  agency.  Such  arc  micaceous 
schist,  hornblende  schist,  and  gneiss. 


24  ACCORDANCE    OF    GEOLOGY 


II. 


ACCORDANCE    OF    GEOLOGY    WITH    REVEALED 
TRUTH. 

I  proceed  to  offer  some  remarks  on  the  accord- 
ance of  this  modern  science  with  revealed  truth. 
The  superiority  of  the  Bible  to  the  productions 
of  mere  human  wisdom,  is  at  once  evident  even 
in  this  debated  field,  when  we  bring  Scripture  into 
comparison,  or  rather  into  contrast  with  uninspired 
speculations.  The  cosmogonies  or  world-makings 
of  the  ancients  would  have  doomed  any  pre- 
tended revelation,  giving  them  its  sanction,  to  cer- 
tain rejection.  Some  of  the  heathen  philosophers 
pronounced  water  to  be  the  origin  of  all  things. 
Some  of  them  explained  conflicting  appearances, 
by  supposing  two  creative  principles,  or  agencies, 
the  one  good,  and  the  other  evil.  Some  of 
them  accounted  for  the  production  of  worlds, 
and  all  their  wonderful  provisions,  by  a  for- 
tuitous concourse  of  atoms.  These  follies,  even 
when  dressed  out  in  all  the  fascinations  of  learn- 


WITH    REVEALED    TRUTH.  25 

ing  and  eloquence,  make,  after  all,  a  poor  figure 
beside  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis, — simple, 
grave,  majestic,  as  we  could  desire  any  narrative 
to  be,  having  God  for  its  author,  and  providence 
for  its  subject. 

An  apparent  discordance  between  Scripture 
and  science,  in  this  province,  mainly  arises  from 
the  fact  that  a  sedimentary  deposit  of  rocks,  to 
the  thickness,  as  is  computed,  of  eight  or  nine 
miles,  and  the  appearance  and  disappearance 
not  only  of  individual  plants  and  animals,  but  of 
very  many  races,  one  after  another,  of  which  the 
fossils  are  considered  a  sufficient  proof,  seem  to 
demand  an  immense  duration  of  time  to  account 
for  the  phenomena.  Whereas,  Scripture  has 
been  understood  to  pronounce  the  world  of  no 
greater  age  than  five  or  six  thousand  years. 
Some  dismiss  the  difficulty  by  denying  the  ex* 
treme  antiquity  of  the  world,  and  unqualifiedly 
defending  the  supposed  chronology  of  Moses. 
And  there  are  yet  some  respected  authors  who 
write  and  publish  in  favour  of  these  views.  We 
ought  not  to  be  rash  in  such  a  question,  and 
pronounce  these  writers  unscientific  for  aiming 
to  be   scriptural.       Let  their  writings   be   exa- 


26 


ACCORDANCE    OF    GEOLOGY 


mined,  and  all  that  is  urged  in  them,  with  pious 
intention,  aud  often  able  executiou.  be  delibe- 
rately weighed. 

PROOFS  OF  THE  ANTIQUITY  OF  THE   WORLD. 

It  must,  in  candour,  be  admitted  that  the  more 
eminent  geologists  are  now  united  in  maintaining 
the  greater  age  of  the  earth,  and  that  the  proofs 
of  it  which  they  advance  are  not  easily  withstood. 
The  arguments  for  the  antiquity  of  the  globe  are 
thus  summed  up  by  Professor  Hitchcock  : — 

'  1.  More  than  two- thirds  of  existing  con- 
tinents are  covered  with  these  rocks  ;  which 
contain  numerous  remains  of  marine  animals, 
so  preserved  as  to  prove  incontestably  that  they 
died  on  the  spot  where  they  are  now  found,  and 
became  gradually  enveloped  in  the  sand,  or  other 
stony  matter,  which  accumulated  around  them, 
their  most  delicate  spines,  and  processes  being 
preserved.  In  fine  these  rocks  present  every 
appearance  of  having  been  formed,  just  as  sand, 
clay,  gravel,  and  limestone  are  now  accumulating 
in  the  bottom  of  the  ocean,  by  a  very  slow 
process.     Except  in  extraordinary  cases,  indeed, 


WITH    REVEALED    TRUTH.  27 

it  requires  a  century  to  produce  accumulations  of 
this  kind  even  a  few  inches  in  thickness. 

1  2.  But  geologists  think  they  have  ascertained 
that  the  fossiliferous  strata  in  Europe  are  not 
less  than  eight  or  ten  miles  in  thickness  :  How 
immense  the  period  requisite  for  the  production 
of  such  vast  masses  ! 

'3.  This  mass  is  divided  into  hundreds  of 
distinct  strata,  or  groups  of  strata  ;  each  group 
containing  peculiar  organic  remains,  and  arranged 
in  as  much  order,  one  above  another,  as  the 
drawers  of  a  well-regulated  cabinet.  Such 
changes,  of  not  only  mineral  composition,  but  of 
organic  remains,  show  that  there  must  have  been 
more  or  less  of  change  of  circumstances  in  the 
waters  from  which  the  successive  strata  and 
groups  were  deposited.  And  such  changes  must 
have  demanded  periods  of  time  of  long  duration, 
for  they  appear  to  have  been,  for  the  most  part, 
extremely  slow.  We  hence  derive  confirmatory 
evidence  of  the  views  that  have  been  presented 
concerning  the  vast  periods  that  have  been 
employed  in  the  production  of  the  fossiliferous 
strata. 

'  4.  Another   circumstance    still   further  con- 


28  ACCORDANCE    OF    GEOLOGY 

firms  these  views.  In  very  many  instances, 
each  successive  group  of  the  strata  above  referred 
to,  contains  rounded  pebbles  derived  from  some 
of  the  preceding  groups.  Those  strata,  then, 
from  which  such  pebbles  were  derived,  must  not 
only  have  been  deposited,  but  consolidated  and 
eroded  by  water,  so  as  to  produce  these  pebbles, 
before  the  rocks  now  containing  them  could  have 
been  formed.  It  is  impossible  that  such  changes, 
numerous  as  they  must  have  been,  could  have 
taken  place  in  such  short  periods  of  time. 
There  must  certainly  have  been  long  intervals 
between  the  formation  of  the  successive  groups. 
'  5.  The  history  of  the  repeated  elevations 
which  the  strata  have  undergone,  conducts  us  to 
the  same  conclusion.  Different  unstratified 
rocks  have  been  intruded  among  the  stratified 
ones  of  various  epochs,  and  the  strata  have  been 
elevated  at  each  epoch.  But  the  oldest  strata 
were  partially  elevated  before  the  newer  ones 
were  deposited  :  for  the  latter  rest  in  an  uncon- 
formable position  upon  the  former.  Indeed,  we 
often  find  numerous  groups  of  strata  resting 
unconformably  upon  one  another,  the  lowest 
being  most  tilted  up,  the  next  higher  less  so,  and 


WITH    REVEALED    TRUTH.  29 

the  third  still  less,  until  the  latest  is  frequently 
horizontal :  having  never  been  disturbed  by  any 
internal  protruding  agency.  It  is  obvious,  then, 
that  after  the  first  elevation  of  the  lowest  group, 
there  must  have  been  an  interval  of  repose 
sufficiently  long  to  permit  the  deposition  of  the 
second  group,  before  the  second  elevation  ;  then 
a  second  period  of  repose,  succeeded  by  a  third 
elevation  ;  and  so  on  to  the  top  of  the  series. 
Here,  then,  we  have  the  same  evidence  of  the 
slow  formation  of  the  stratified  rocks,  as  is 
taught  us  by  their  lithological  characters,  and 
their  organic  remains. 

'  It  is  impossible  to  exhibit  the  preceding  ar- 
guments in  a  light  as  striking  as  they  present 
themselves  to  the  practical  observer.  Such  a 
person,  indeed,  needs  no  laboured  argument  to 
satisfy  him,  that  if  the  stratified  rocks  were 
deposited  in  the  manner  the  work  is  now  going 
on.  immense  periods  of  time  were  requisite. 
Even  if  he  admit,  what  we  are  not  disposed  with 
some  geologists  to  deny,  that  the  causes  now  in 
operation  did  formerly  act  with  greater  energy 
than  at  present,  yet  he  will  still  see  the  necessity 
of  allowing  periods  of  time  vastly  extended  to 


30 


ACCORDANCE    OF    GEOLOGY 


form  the  fossiliferous  rocks,  unless  he  admit, 
without  any  proof,  that  the  laws  of  nature  have 
been  changed.  God  could,  indeed,  have  per- 
formed the  work  miraculously,  in  a  moment  of 
time  :  But  the  supposition  is  wholly  gratuitous, 
and  even  worse  than  this,  as  we  shall  show  in 
the  proper  place.  It  is  one  thing  to  admit  what 
God  can  do,  and  quite  a  different  thing  to  show 
what  he  has  done.  fcvTL^foKv s1v^  ji^uda^J 

'  6.  Finally,  there  appear  to  have  been  several 
almost  entire  changes  of  organic  life  upon  the 
globe  since  the  deposition  of  the  fossiliferous 
rocks  began.  And  comparative  anatomy  teaches 
us,  that  so  different  from  one  another  were  the 
successive  groups  which  we  find  in  the  different 
strata,  that  they  could  not  have  been  contempo- 
raries. But  each  group  appears  to  have  been 
adapted  to  the  condition  of  the  globe  at  the 
time  ;  and  it  was  continued  apparently,  until  by 
the  extremely  slow  process  of  refrigeration,  the 
temperature  was  rendered  unfit  for  their  resi- 
dence, when  they  became  extinct,  and  a  new 
creation  arose.  But  they  lived  long  enough  for 
rocks  thousands  of  feet  in  thickness  to  be  de- 
posited, which  now  contain  their  remains.    Who 


WITH    REVEALED    TRUTH.  31 

can  doubt  that  vast  periods  of  time  were  requi- 
site for  such  changes  of  organic  life  1  and  who 
can  believe  that  they  have  taken  place  since  the 
creation  of  man  ? 

'  We  have  dwelt  thus  long  upon  this  point 
because  of  its  importance  For  if  there  is  not 
the  most  conclusive  evidence  in  geology  of  the 
existence  of  the  globe  longer  than  the  common 
interpretation  of  the  Mosaic  history  admits,  we 
need  not  surely  spend  time  in  reconciling  the 
two  records.  We  cannot,  however,  but  believe, 
that  every  impartial  mind,  which  fairly  examines 
this  subject,  will  be  forced  to  the  conclusion, 
that  the  facts  of  geology  do  teach  as  conclusively, 
as  any  science  not  founded  on  mathematics  can 
teach,  that  the  globe  must  have  existed  during 
a  period  indefinitely  long,  anterior  to  the  crea- 
tion of  man.  We  are  not  aware  that  any  prac- 
tical and  thorough  geologist  doubts  this,  what- 
ever are  his  views  in  respect  to  revelation.  Some 
writers  on  geology,  indeed,  who  have  studied  the 
subject  only  in  books,  and  are  little  else  than 
compilers,  have  taken  different  ground  :  But  of 
how  little  weight  must  the  opinion  of  such  men 
be   regarded,    when    set  in   opposition    to    the 


6Z  ACCORDANCE    OF    GEOLOGY 

unanimous  voice  of  such  men  as  Cuvier,  Hum- 
boldt, Brongniart,  Jameson,  Buckland,  Sedg- 
wick, Murcbison,  Conybeare,  Greenough,  Bake- 
well,  Lyell,  Mantell,  De  la  Beche,  and  many 
more;  who  not  only  stand  among  the  most 
distinguished  philosophers  of  the  present  day, 
but — many  of  them  at  least — are  equally  well 
known  as  decided  friends  of  revelation  ?  Unless 
the  evidence  were  very  strong,  there  would  be 
found  among  so  many  of  different  education  and 
professions  at  least  one  dissenting  voice  :  but 
there  is  none.'* 

SUCH  FACTS  AS  ARE  STATED  ABOVE  CANNOT  BE  AC- 
COUNTED FOR  BY  THE  DELUGE  OF  NOAH,  OR  BY 
ANY  CAUSES  OF  WHICH  THE  OPERATION  HAS  BEEN 
SUBSEQUENT  TO  THE  CREATION  OF  MAN. 

It  was  supposed  at  one  time,  that  the  deluge 
of  Noah  might  have  carried  the  fossil  shells  to 
the  inland  and  elevated  situations  where  they 
are  now  met  with  in  such  abundance.  When 
the  insufficiency  of  this  explanation  became  ap- 
parent, it  was  contended  that  the   strata  were 

*  Student's  Cabinet  Library,  No.  xix.,  pp.  18-22. 


WITH    REVEALED    TRUTH.  33 

probably  deposited  during  the  centuries  which 
intervened  between  the  creation  and  the  flood, 
and  that  the  sea  and  the  land  then  changed 
places,  thus  leaving  exposed  the  stratified  regions 
which  the  waters  had  covered.  It  will  be  seen 
from  the  epitomised  argument  of  Professor 
Hitchcock,  that  this  latter  hypothesis,  though 
preferable  to  the  former,  is  far  from  being 
adequate  or  unobjectionable.  It  does  not  allow 
a  sufficiency  of  time  for  the  heaping  up  of  strata 
of  such  number  and  dimensions,  or  for  the  ap- 
pearance and  disappearance  of  so  many  succes- 
sive races  of  plants  and  animals  ;  and  it  leaves 
wholly  unaccounted  for  the  alternations  of  salt 
water  and  fresh  water  formations,  which  prove 
the  same  region  to  have  been  at  one  time  the 
bed  of  the  ocean,  and  at  another  an  island  or 
continent,  interspersed  with  lakes  and  traversed 
by  rivers. 

THAT    THE    WORLD    WAS    CREATED    IN    ITS    PRESENT 
STATE  IS  AN  INCREDIBLE  SUPPOSITION. 

To  get  rid  of  these  formidable  difficulties,  some 
have  suggested  that  God  may  have  created  the 
world  just  as  it  is — bearing   all  the  marks  of 
c 


34  ACCORDANCE    OF    GEOLOGY 

processes  through  which  it  has  never  passed.  It 
is  not  easy,  however,  to  look  on  pebbles  rounded 
and  smoothed,  as  if  they  had  been  rolled  in  water, 
and  believe  this  to  be  their  original  condition 
And  far  more  difficult  is  it  to  look  on  organic 
remains,  and  believe  that  scattered  branches  and 
bones  never  existed  save  in  this  fossil  state.  Let 
the  following  instance  suffice  for  illustration  : — 
A  fossil  echinus,  or  sea  urchin,  is  found  in  a  block 
of  limestone.  This  shell  has  the  same  marks  of 
having  been  inhabited  by  a  living  creature,  as 
any  shell  of  analogous  form  cast  upon  our  shores. 
Why  should  we  admit  the  evidence  of  former 
vitality  to  be  decisive  in  the  one  case,  and  wholly 
reject  this  testimony  in  the  other  ?  On  examin- 
ing the  fossil  echinus,  we  see  attached  to  it  the 
lower  valve  of  a  shell-fish,  called  the  crania.  Is 
this  second  appearance  of  former  life  also  delu- 
sory 1  and  has  the  play  of  semblances  been  thus 
complicated,  as  if  to  insure  misapprehension  ? 
Nor  does  the  concatenation  of  illusions,  if  they 
are  to  be  so  regarded,  end  here.  The  upper 
valve  of  the  crania  is  sought  for,  and  it  is  found 
at  a  little  distance  in  the  calcareous  mass.  It  is 
seen  that  valve  answers  to  valve,  when  they  are 


WITH    REVEALED    TRUTH.  35 

brought  together  and  compared.  They  have 
every  indication  of  having  been  a  pair.  And  is 
it  so  that  they  were  always  apart  till  the  hand  of 
man  conjoined  them?  Was  the  lower  valve 
created  in  connection  with  a  shell  of  a  totally 
different  genus  from  itself,  and  the  upper  valve 
created  a  short  way  off,  in  a  state  of  brokenness 
and  detachment  ?  The  precise  facts,  here  re- 
presented, have  come  under  the  observation  of 
geologists  ;  and  there  is  surely  a  difficulty  in  as- 
cribing to  the  God  of  truth  this  multifarious  and 
bewildering  mimicry  of  realities.  On  such  prin- 
ciples, indeed,  there  could  be  no  certainty  or 
satisfaction  in  the  interpretation  of  nature.* 

*  To  maintain  that  rocks  were  created  just  as  they  are,  is  a 
doctrine  of  very  dangerous  tendency.  If  fossil  shells  were 
never  inhabited  by  shell-fish,  or  if  fossil  teeth  were  never  in- 
tended for  mastication,  what  becomes  of  final  causes?  In 
Epicurus  and  La  Marck  such  things  excite  no  surprise  ;  but 
writers  of  no  ill  intention  have  sometimes  fallen  into  this 
strange  mistake.  For  the  sake  of  the  non-geological  reader, 
it  is  desirable  to  analyse  this  well-chosen  example.  The  sea 
urchin  (Echinus),  while  alive,  was  covered  by  numerous 
spines  attached  to  the  shell.  On  the  death  of  the  animal, 
a  period  must  have  elapsed  during  which  decomposition 
took  place,  and  the  animal  matter  disappeared,  and  the 
spines  fell  from  the  shell.  After  this,  the  young  crania  at- 
t  iched  itself  to  the  denuded  shell,  and  in  its  turn  died,  and 
one  of  its  valves  fell  off,  in  consequence  of  the  decay  of  the 
soft  parts,  while  the  other  remained  agglutinated  to  the  sea 
urchin  on  which  it  grew.  S. 


36  ACCORDANCE    OF    GEOLOGY 


DIFFICULTIES    MAY    EXCITE    UNDUE    ALARM. 

Let  it  be  supposed  that  geologists  are  correct 
as  to  the  antiquity  of  our  planet,  and  also,  for 
the  sake  of  argument,  that  no  mode  could  be 
discovered  of  reconciling  their  conclusions  with 
revelation,  it  would  not  follow  that  a  satisfactory 
solution  might  not  hereafter  be  suggested.  A 
difficulty  is  not  always  a  confutation.  Geology 
has  its  own  difficulties.  It  tells  us,  for  example, 
that  nodules  of  flint  are  scattered  at  pretty 
equal  intervals  through  beds  of  chalk ;  but 
it  does  not  account  for  this  mode  of  distri- 
bution. '  The  separation  of  the  flint  into  layers, 
so  distinct  from  the  chalk,  is  a  singular  pheno- 
menon, and  not  yet  accounted  for.'*  Apart  from 
the  laminae  of  stratification,  we  are  pointed  by  the 
geologist  to  joints  and  cleavage  in  many  rocks, 
but  he  is  incompetent  to  inform  us  how  they  came 
there.  '  "Whatever  nomenclature  we  adopt,'  says 
Sir  C.  Lyell,  l  it  is  clear  that  three  distinct  forms 
of  structure  are  exhibited  in  certain  rocks 
throughout  large  districts  :  viz. — first,  stratifica- 

*  Lyell's  Elem.  of  Geo].,  part  ii.,  chap.  15. 


WITH    REVEALED    TRUTH.  37 

tion  ;  secondly,  joints  ;  and  thirdly,  slaty  cleav- 
age ;  the  two  last  having  no  connexion  with  true 
bedding,  and  having  been  superinduced  by  causes 
absolutely  independent  of  gravitation.  .  .  Before 
treating  of  joints,  it  may  be  well  to  speak  of  the 
probable  origin  of  slaty  cleavage  in  those  cases 
where  it  is  decidedly  unconnected  with  sedimen- 
tary deposition.  It  must  be  referred  to  crystal- 
line or  polar  forces  acting  simultaneously  and 
somewhat  uniformly,  in  given  directions,  on  large 
masses  having  a  homogeneous  composition.  .  . 
The  cause  of  this  tendency  to  a  jointed  struc- 
ture is  by  no  means  understood.'*  Here  we  have 
pure  conjecture  as  to  the  origin  of  cleavage,  and 
a  confession  of  ignorance  as  to  the  cause  of  joints. 
We  are  assured  by  geological  writers  that  influ- 
ences now  operative  in  the  globe  would  produce 
(plenty  of  time  being  allowed)  all  the  appear- 
ances presented  by  its  contents.  This  is  the 
grand  principle  of  modern  geology  in  the  estima- 
tion, at  least,  of  some  of  its  advocates  ;  and  yet 
tbe  important  exception  occurs  of  new  races  tak- 
ing the  place  of  extinct  races — a  revolution  many 
a  time  repeated  in  the  earth's  geological  history, 
*  Lyell's  Principles  of  Geology,  book  iv.,  chap.  27. 


38  ACCORDANCE    OF    GEOLOGY 

but  not  an  example  of  which  has  fallen  within 
the  period  of  human  observation  or  annals.  But 
though  plenty  of  time  may  wear  out  an  old  race, 
it  does  nothing  to  account  for  the  production  of 
new  races.  To  this  day  geologists  are  divided 
among  themselves  on  the  question  whether  the 
strata  of  the  earth  prove,  or  do  not  prove,  a  pro- 
gress towards  higher  and  higher  perfection  in 
Organic  structure.  '  The  popular  theory  of  the 
successive  development  of  the  animal  and  vege- 
table world,  from  the  simplest  to  the  most  per- 
fect forms,  rests  on  a  very  insecure  foundation.'* 

Those  difficulties  which  lie  within  geology  may 
be  cleared  away  by  future  discoveries.  But  we 
have  like  reason  to  hope,  that  the  partial  obscu- 
rity now  resting  on  the  relations  of  geology  to  the 
Bible  will  be  dissipated  by  the  progress  of  sci- 
ence, or  by  juster  exposition  of  Scripture  itself. 

There  is  this  of  some  moment  to  be  considered, 
that  the  difficulty  respects  the  oldest  class  of 
facts  mentioned  in  Scripture,  and  those  which 
are  farthest  removed  from  all  aids  to  exposition. 
In  the  case  of  other  religions,  the  most  ancient 
pretensions  are  the  most  plausible,  from  being 
*  Lyell's  Princip.  of  Geol,,  book  i.,  chap.  9. 


WITH    REVEALED    TRUTH.  39 

the  least  accessible  to  searching  investigation. 
It  is  otherwise  with  the  religion  of  the  Bible. 
Just  in  proportion  as  the  facts  of  Scripture,  be- 
coming recent,  admit  of  scrutiny,  they  bear  the 
test  of  it  ;  and  we  find  the  preternatural  works 
of  Christ  more  lucidly  and  abundantly  substan- 
tiated than  the  miracles  of  Moses.  Is  not  this 
circumstance  confirmatory  of  its  claims  1  It  may 
be  said  that  the  account  of  creation  is  history, 
and  should  therefore  be  unambiguous  ;  but  it  is 
a  history  of  God's  doings,  and  we  need  not  look 
in  such  a  case  for  the  common-place  obviousness 
of  every  day  details. 

MODES    OF    CONCILIATION. 

The  foregoing  considerations  might  be  urged, 
were  no  possible  solution  apparent.  But  various 
ways  have  been  proposed  of  harmonising  geology 
and  Scripture  :  and  if  none  of  these  be  entirely 
satisfactory,  they  have  enough  of  promise  to  re- 
buke the  temerity  of  a  scoffer's  exultation.  They 
show  us  in  what  direction  we  may  seek,  with  a 
reasonable  prospect  of  finding,  an  exit  from  em- 
barrassments. 

Our  best  expositors  of  Scripture  seem  to  be 


40  ACCORDANCE     OF    GEOLOGY 

now  pretty  generally  agreed  that  the  opening 
verse  in  Genesis  has  no  necessary  connexion 
with  the  verses  which  follow.  They  think  it 
may  be  understood  as  making  a  separate  and 
independent  statement  regarding  creation  pro- 
per, and  that  the  phrase,  'in  the  beginning,'  may 
be  expressive  of  an  indefinitely  remote  antiquity. 
On  this  principle  of  interpretation,  the  Bible 
recognises,  in  the  first  instance,  the  great  age  of 
the  earth,  and  then  tells  us  of  the  changes  it 
underwent  at  a  period  long  subsequent,  in  order 
to  render  it  a  fit  abode  for  the  family  of  man. 
The  work  of  the  six  days  was,  according  to  this 
view,  not  a  creation  in  the  strict  sense  of  the 
term,  but  a  renovation — a  remodelling  of  pre- 
existent  materials.  Some  difficulty,  however, 
remains  in  explaining  the  transactions  of  these 
days,  so  as  to  establish  their  accordance  with 
geological  discoveries. 

OPINIONS    REGARDING    THE    SIX    DAYS. 

In  former  times,  Whiston,  Des  Cartes,  De 
Luc,  and  other  distinguished  men,  advocated  the 
opinion  that  the  days  spoken  of  in  Genesis  were 


WITH    REVEALED    TRUTH.  41 

not  periods  of  twenty-four  hours,  but  of  a  vast 
duration.  More  recently,  Professors  Jameson 
and  Silliman  have  espoused  this  solution  of  the 
difficulty,  and  have,  with  great  talent  and  plausi- 
bility, engaged  the  resources  at  once  of  criticism 
and  science  in  its  defence. 

Dr.  Buckland  believes  that  there  is  no  sound 
critical  or  theological  objection  to  the  interpre- 
tation of  the  word  '  day,'  as  meaning  a  long  pe- 
riod, but  he  thinks  that  there  is  no  necessity  for 
such  extension  in  order  to  reconcile  the  text  of 
Genesis  with  physical  appearances.  He  suppo- 
ses creation  to  have  been  succeeded  by  cycles  of 
ages,  during  which  all  the  physical  operations 
disclosed  by  geology  were  going  on.  Then  ter- 
restrial convulsions  supervened  and  produced 
chaos,  or  literally  a  state  of  confusion  and  emp- 
tiness. The  earth  was  covered  with  dense  va- 
pours, and  darkened  by  them.  This  confusion, 
and  its  attendant  obscuration,  God  so  far  re- 
moved on  the  first  day  as  to  make  the  light 
appear  and  distinguish  it  from  the  darkness  ; 
in  this  acceptation  of  the  words,  '  He  said,  Let 
there  be  light,  and  there  was  light.'  On  the 
fourth  day  the  gloom  which  had  overspread  the 


42  ACCORDANCE    OF    GEOLOGY 

earth  was  not  only  modified,  but  dissipated,  so 
that  the  heavenly  bodies  came  into  view  with 
all  that  conspicuousness  which  renders  them  so 
valuable  to  man,  and  constitutes  them  especially 
the  signs  of  seasons.  Thus  his  mandate  was  ful- 
filled :  '  Let  there  be  lights  in  the  firmament  of 
the  heaven.'  etc.  In  like  manner,  Dr.  Buckland 
explains  all  the  transactions  of  the  days  men- 
tioned in  Genesis  as  being  improvements  which 
followed  temporary  disorder ;  and  he  under- 
stands the  inspired  penman  to  describe  changes 
which  our  own  globe,  and  the  celestial  bodies, 
underwent,  not  in  their  own  general  condition, 
or  in  their  connexion  with  the  universe  at  large, 
but  in  their  relation  to  man  and  his  specific 
well-being.* 

Dr.  Pye  Smith  has  started  the  opinion  that 
the  recital  which  follows  the  announcement  of 
creation  may  have  respect  to  a  sub-division  of 
the  globe.  He  thinks  that  the  term  '  earth'  may 
have  a  local  and  restricted  sense,  and  may  be 
designed  to  express  that  particular  part  of  our 
world  which  God  was  adapting  for  the  dwelling 
of  man,  and  the  animals  connected  with  him. 
*  See  Bridgewater  Treatise,  vol.  i.,  chap.  2. 


WITH    REVEALED    TRUTH.  43 

The  history  of  the  work  of  the  six  days  is,  he 
thinks,  'a  description  in  expressions  adapted  to 
the  ideas  and  capacities  of  mankind  in  the  ear- 
liest ages,  of  a  series  of  operations,  by  which  the 
Being  of  omnipotent  wisdom  and  goodness  ad- 
justed and  finished  not  the  earth  generally,  bat 
as  the  particular  subject  under  consideration 
here,  a  portion  of  its  surface  for  most  glorious 
purposes.  .  .  This  portion  of  the  earth  I 
conceive  to  have  been  a  large  part  of  Asia  lying 
between  the  Caucasian  ridge,  the  Caspian  Sea, 
and  Tartary  on  the  north,  the  Persian  and  Indian 
Seas  on  the  south,  and  the  high  mountain  ridges 
which  run,  at  considerable  distances,  on  the 
eastern  and  western  flank.'* 

ON  SUCH  A  SUBJECT  WE  SHOULD  NOT  BE  DOGMATICAL 
OR  HASTY  IN  OUR  DECISIONS. 

In  these  schemes  of  conciliation  I  shall  not 
enter  particularly.  Each  of  them  has  been 
plausibly  defended,  and  we  should  examine, 
without  prejudice,  all  that  can  be  said  in  their 
behalf.     I  do  not  think,  however,   that  we  have 

*  Holy  Scrip,  and  Geol.  Science,  p.  198,  4th  edit. 


44  ACCORDANCE    OF   GEOLOGY 

reached  the  time  when  any  one  of  them,  or  any 
other  of  like  nature,  should  be  very  positively 
maintained.  As  regards  the  bearing  of  physical 
facts  on  the  elucidation  of  Scripture,  we  are, 
if  I  mistake  not,  doing  little  more  as  yet  than 
examining  witnesses  ;  and  we  must  exercise  a 
little  patience  before  we  find  ourselves  in  a  con- 
dition to  sum  up  the  evidence  or  to  pronounce 
judgment.  Geology  is  but  feeling  its  way  to 
the  formation  of  a  complete  and  coherent  system. 
If  in  its  present  state  it  exhibited  an  apparent 
accordance  with  our  interpretation  of  Scripture, 
new  difficulties  might  arise  from  subsequent 
geological  discoveries.  It  is  enough  for  the  pre- 
sent that  apparent  contradictions  are  becoming 
less  prominent,  while  possible  means  of  reconci- 
liation are  enlarging  on  the  view.  We  are  thus 
emboldened  to  say,  with  Dr.  Buckland,  { I  trust 
it  may  be  shown,  not  only  that  there  is  no  incon- 
sistency between  our  interpretation  of  the  phe- 
nomena of  nature  and  of  the  Mosaic  narrative, 
but  that  the  results  of  geological  inquiry  throw 
important  light  on  parts  of  this  history,  which 
are  otherwise  involved  in  much  obscurity.' 


WITH    REVEALED    TRUTH.  45 

IMPORTANT  AGREEMENTS  BETWEEN  SCRIPTURE  AND 
GEOLOGY. 

But  there  are  marked  features  of  accordance 
between  the  volumes  of  nature  and  of  revelation 
which  I  am  unwilling  to  overlook.  Both  teach 
us  the  being  of  a  God ;  both  ascribe  to  him  the 
same  perfections  of  knowledge,  wisdom,  power, 
and  goodness;  both  tell  us  that  he  created 
the  world,  and  prepared  it  for  becoming  the 
abode  of  man.  Both  date  the  creation  of 
man  about  6000  years  back  :  and  if  a  change 
so  great  as  his  introduction  to  the  earth  then 
took  place,  it  is  most  reasonable  to  believe 
that  great  accompanying  changes,  such  as  are 
described  in  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis,  were 
made  on  his  account. 

'  I  need  not  dwell  on  the  proofs  of  the  low  an- 
tiquity of  our  species,'  observes  Sir  C.  Lyell. '  for 
it  is  not  controverted  by  any  experienced  geolo- 
gist ;  indeed,  the  real  difficulty  consists  in  tracing 
back  the  signs  of  man's  existence  on  the  earth  to 
that  comparatively  modern  period  when  species 
now  his  contemporaries  began  to  predominate. 
If  there  be  a  difference  of  opinion  respecting  the 


46  ACCORDANCE    OF    GEOLOGY 

occurrence  in  certain  deposits  of  the  remains  of 
man  and  his  works,  it  is  always  in  reference  to 
strata  confessedly  of  the  most  modern  order  :  and 
it  is  never  pretended  that  our  race  co-existed  with 
assemblages  of  animals  and  plants,  of  which  all 
or  even  a  great  part  of  the  species  are  extinct. 

i  No  inhabitant  of  the  land  exposes  himself  to 
so  many  dangers  on  the  waters  as  man.  whether 
in  a  savage   or   civilized  state  ;  and  there  is  no 
animal,  therefore,  whose  skeleton  is  so  liable  to 
become  embedded    in   lacustrine  or    submarine 
deposits  :  nor  can  it  be  said  that  his  remains  are 
more  perishable   than   those  of  other  animals  ; 
for  in  ancient  fields  of  battle,  as  Cuvier  has  ob- 
served, the  bones  of  men  have  suffered  as  little 
decomposition    as   those   of  horses    which   were 
buried  in  the  same  grave.     But  even  if  the  more 
solid  parts  of  our  species  had  disappeared,  the 
impression  of  their  form  would   have  remained 
engraven  on  the  rocks,  as  have  the  traces  of  the 
tenderest  leaves  of  plants,  and   the  soft  integu- 
ments of  many  animals.     Works   of  art,  more- 
over, composed  of  the  most  indestructible  mate- 
rials, would   have   outlasted   almost  all   organic 
contents  of  sedimentary    rocks.     Edifices,   and 


WITH    REVEALED    TRUTH.  47 

even  entire  cities,  have,  within  the  times  of 
history,  been  buried  under  volcanic  ejections, 
submerged  beneath  the  sea,  or  engulphed  by 
earthquakes  ;  and  had  these  catastrophes  been 
repeated  throughout  an  indefinite  lapse  of  ages, 
the  high  antiquity  of  man  would  have  been 
inscribed  in  far  more  legible  characters  on  the 
framework  of  the  globe  than  are  the  forms  of 
the  ancient  vegetation  which  once  covered  the 
islands  of  the  northern  ocean,  or  of  those  gigantic 
reptiles,  which,  at  still  later  periods,  peopled  the 
seas  and  rivers  of  the  northern  hemisphere.'* 

The  recent  creation  of  man  is  a  fact  of  vast 
importance  and  interest,  in  whatever  aspect  or 
relation  it  may  be  viewed.  I  shall  have  occasion 
to  speak  of  it  again.  At  present  I  only  adduce 
it  as  proving  that,  by  the  testimony  of  geology 
itself,  the  Scriptures  give  a  just  view  of  the  age 
of  the  earth,  in  so  far  as  it  is  the  world  of  man, 
and  in  no  other  aspect  did  it  concern  us  as  moral 
agents  to  be  made  acquainted  with  its  chronicles. 

Fossil  remains  bear  testimony  not  only  to  the 
appearance  of  new  tribes,  but  to  the  disappear- 
ance of  former  tribes.  And  as  geology  shows 
*  Prin.  of  Geo!.,  b.  i.,  ch.  ix. 


48  ACCORDANCE    OF    GEOLOGY 

us  that  other  races  have  become  extinct,  it  con- 
firms the  intimation  of  Scripture,  that  the  human 
race  also  may  pass  from  the  earth,  and  verify 
the  announcement  in  its  relation  to  man,  that 
time  shall  be  no  more. 

Even    in    regard    to    scriptural    chronology, 
where  the  grand   difficulty   is  supposed    to  lie, 
I    may   remark    that   while   the    Bible  declares 
of  the  human  race  that  we   are    of  yesterday, 
yet,    in    characterising    the    age    of    the    earth, 
revelation    never    speaks  of    it  as    if    it    were 
modern.     God  :  hath  chosen  us  in  Christ  before 
the    foundation    of    the    world.'      "Would     the 
apostle  have  so  expressed  himself,  unless  he  had 
considered  the  world  to  be  exceedingly  ancient  ? 
'  Of  old   hast   thou   laid  the  foundation  of  the 
earth.'     Would   not    a   modern    geologist,    who 
believes  in  a    Creator,  adopt    as    his   own    this 
declaration  of  the  psalmist?  '  Or  ever  the  moun- 
tains were    brought  forth,  or   ever  thou    hadst 
formed   the  earth  and   the  sea,  even  from  ever- 
lasting to  everlasting  thou  art  God.'      It  is  plain 
that  in  this   passage  the  globe  is  spoken  of  as 
only  less  ancient  than  eternity  itself. 

If  by  the    testimony  both  of  geology  and  of 


WITH    REVEALED    TRUTH.  49 

Scripture  the  world  be  so  very  ancient,  it  is  a  pity 
that  any  misconception  or  prejudice  should  blind 
us  to  the  interest  of  the  fact.  It  has  been  said 
that  geology  is  only  less  extensive  than  astrono- 
my in  the  range  of  its  discoveries.  The  compli- 
ment is  just,  but  inadequate.  While  astronomy 
tells  us  of  the  extent  of  creation,  geology  informs 
us  also  of  its  antiquity  ;  and  the  impression  in- 
duced by  surveying  unnumbered  worlds  is  scarce- 
ly more  solemn  or  grand  than  that  which  we  de- 
rive from  reviewing  unnumbered  ages.  "We  are 
awed  in  beholding  nebular  matter  resolved  into 
sinning  points,  and  in  recognising  each  of  these 
myriads  of  myriads  of  bright  particles  as  a  gor- 
geous sun  and  probable  centre  of  attraction  and 
illumination  to  encompassing  planets.  But  if  we 
lift  a  pebble  from  the  sea-shore,  and  begin  to 
decipher  its  characters,  written  by  the  finger  of 
God  himself,  we  have  no  relief  from  this  awful- 
ness.  Wa  pass  from  the  abysses  of  space  only  to 
be  lost  in  the  abysses  of  duration,  and  we  are 
transported  by  the  retrospect  into  depths  of  the 
past,  where  all  reckoning  fails  us,  and  the  lapse 
of  centuries  is  reduced  to  undiscernible  insigni- 
ficance. Where  were  we  when  these  grains  of 
D 


50  ACCORDANCE     OF    GEOLOGY 

sand  were  assorted  ?  Compared  with  the  date 
of  their  assortment,  the  fall  of  Babylon  has  just 
happened,  and  even  the  creation  of  man  is  an 
event  of  yesterday. 

WHY  WAS  NOT  THE  ANCIENT  WORLD  MORE  EXEMPT 
FROM  PHYSICAL  EVIL  THAN  GEOLOGY  SUPPOSES 
IT  TO   HAVE  BEEN  ? 

I  have  found  some  persons  startled  at  the  idea 
that  the  world,  as  it  existed  before  the  creation 
and  transgression  of  man,  presents,  in  the  de- 
lineations of  geologists,  so  little  that  is  paradis- 
iacal. But  where  does  the  Bible  say  that  the 
whole  earth  was  ever  a  paradise  ?  If  it  had  been 
so,  what  need  would  there  have  been  for  any 
paradise  at  all?  Eden  was  brought  into  exist- 
ence, if  we  are  to  believe  the  Scriptures,  in  im- 
mediate connexion  with  the  creation  of  man  ; 
and  its  peculiar  delights  were  found  only  within 
its  own  enclosures.  A  wide  difference,  therefore, 
between  the  general  condition  of  the  earth  and 
the  felicities  of  paradise  is  altogether  conforma- 
ble to  the  scriptural  narrative. 

Not  a  few,  however,  are  particularly  shocked 
to  think  that  fossil  remains  should  indicate  the 
ravages  of  death  among  the  brute  creation,  at 


WITH     REVEALED    TRUTH.  51 

periods  anterior  to  the  fall  of  man.  They  have 
been  accustomed  to  regard  death  as  in  all  cases 
the  effect  of  sin,  and  they  are  confounded  to  hear 
of  creatures  having  died  in  the  earth  before  it 
was  tainted  or  blighted  by  transgression.  But 
let  the  following  considerations  be  duly  weighed  : 
— (1.)  If  birds  and  beasts  and  creeping  things 
had  not  died,  they  must  have  been  immortal  ; 
and  we  at  once  perceive  that  there  is  an  unsuit- 
ableness  in  the  nature  and  extent  of  their  powers 
to  the  inheritance  of  immortality.  (2.)  The 
supposition  of  irresponsible  and  sinless  creatures 
dying  in  consequence  of  the  sin  of  man  is  a 
mysterious  explanation  of  the  facts  ;  and  instead 
of  removing  the  difficulty,  only  replaces  it  by 
another.  (3.)  The  circumstance  of  man  alone 
having  been  created  immortal,  is  not  at  all  more 
wonderful  or  unlikely  than  that  man  alone 
should  have  been  created  rational.  There  is  in 
truth  a  natural  fitness  that  these  wonders  should 
go  together — Reason  and  Immortality.  As  eter- 
nal life  appears  inappropriate  to  an  iusect,  so, 
on  the  other  hand,  a  duration  equally  brief  with 
that  of  the  brutes  appears  inappropriate  to  the 
faculties  and  affections,  the  retrospects  and  auti- 


52  ACCORDANCE    OF    GEOLOGY 

cipations  of  the  soul  of  man.  The  immortality 
of  the  human  body,  and  the  happy  immortality 
of  the  human  spirit,  were,  however,  made  condi- 
tional on  obedience.  The  apostacy  of  our  race 
brought  sad  derangement  over  this  seemly 
order ;  but  surely  the  consequences  have  not 
been  more  disastrous  than  might  have  been  an- 
ticipated from  the  acknowledged  entrance  of 
moral  evil.  (4.)  The  Scriptures  advance  nothing 
at  variance  with  these  statements.  They  tell  us 
of  no  tree  of  life  of  which  the  lower  animals 
might  eat  and  live  for  ever ;  nor  do  they  give  us 
the  slightest  hint  that  such  creatures  expire  be- 
cause our  first  parents  partook  of  the  tree  of  the 
knowledge  of  good  and  evil.  That  brutes  die 
because  man  has  sinned,  has  been  asserted  in- 
numerable times  by  divines  of  eminence  ;  but  I 
consider  it  unnecessary  to  enter  into  any  critical 
examination  of  the  few  texts  which  have  been 
supposed  to  favor  this  idea,  as  they  have  scarcely 
even  a  semblance  of  giving  it  any  countenance. 
We  are  told,  indeed,  that  '  sin  entered  into  the 
world,  and  death  by  sin  ;'  but  it  is  evident  that 
the  apostle,  in  so  expressing  himself,  used  the 
language    in    relation    to    man,  for   he    adds, 


WITH    REVEALED    TRUTH.  53 

4  and  so  death  passed  upon  all  men,  for  that 
all  have  sinned.'*  The  death  of  animals  is 
a  fact  in  the  course  of  nature,  the  truth  of  which 
all  parties  must  admit.  It  creates,  however,  no 
special  difficulty  to  the  reception  of  our  holy 
faith,  for  it  contradicts  in  no  way  whatever  either 
the  scriptural  narrative  or  Christian  doctrine. 
This  objection,  when  justly  viewed,  only  shows 
then  how  much  safer  we  are  with  the  Scriptures 
themselves,  as  our  rule  of  faith  and  manners, 
than  with  the  most  ably  executed  and  generally- 
received  systems  of  theology. 

The  foregoing  paragraphs  exhibit  grand  fea- 
tures of  accordance  between  what  the  Bible  says 
and  what  the  earth  shows  ;  and  we  shall  search 
in  vain  for  equally  striking  symptoms  of  a  com- 
mon divine  origin  in  any  human  productions. 

THE     DELUGE. 

A  view  of  Geology,  in  its  relations  to  Revealed 
Religion,  would  be  incomplete  without  some 
observations  on  the  Deluge  of  Noah.  The 
scriptural  account  of  that  catastrophe   may  be 

*  Rom.  v.  12. 


54  ACCORDANCE    OF    GEOLOGY 

summed  up  in  a  few  sentences*  It  happened 
about  sixteen  hundred  and  fifty  years  after  the 
creation  of  man,  and  about  two  thousand  three 
hundred  and  fifty  years  before  the  Christian  era. 
Noah,  forewarned  of  God,  had  prepared  an  ark 
for  the  saving  of  himself  and  his  house.  He  was 
also  commanded  to  bring  into  the  ark  of  every 
living  thing  of  all  flesh,  two  of  every  sort,  to 
keep  them  alive  with  him.  Of  beasts  which  were 
clean,  according  to  the  Jewish  law,  Noah  was  to 
take  to  him  by  sevens — that  is,  seven  males  and 
seven  females.  He  was  also  to  take  of  all  food 
that  was  eaten,  to  keep  alive  the  tenants  of  the 
ark,  both  rational  and  irrational.  A  week  after 
Noah  entered  the  ark,  taking  with  him  his  three 
sons  and  his  wife,  and  his  sons'  wives  ;  a  rain, 
which  lasted  forty  days,  began  to  fall,  and  the 
fountains  of  the  great  deep  were  broken  up  ;  so 
that  the  land  was  overflowed  by  the  waters,  till 
all  the  hills  that  were  under  the  whole  heaven 
were  covered.  The  waters  had  so  far  abated, 
one  hundred  and  fifty  days  after  the  deluge 
commenced,  that  the  ark  rested  on  the  moun- 
tains of  Ararat.  At  intervals  of  a  week  each 
*  Gen.  ch.  vi.j  vii.,  viii. 


WITH    REVEALED    TRUTH.  55 

Noah  sent  out  a  raven,  which  came  not  back — 
a  dove,  which  returned — the  same  dove,  a  second 
time,  which  returned  with  an  olive  leaf  in  her 
mouth — the  same  dove,  a  third  time,  which  was 
not  again  seen.  On  the  two  hundred  and  twen- 
ty-fourth day,  the  tops  of  the  mountains  were 
visible.  The  whole  period  included  between  the 
day  of  Noah's  entrance  into  the  ark,  and  that  of 
his  leaving  it,  was  a  year  and  eighteen  days. 

The  marine  remaius  of  animals  and  vegetables, 
with  which  many  of  the  fossiliferous  strata 
abound,  were  long  referred  to  this  deluge  as  the 
cause  of  their  transportation,  and  were  appealed 
to  as  evidence,  that  the  diluvial  waters  had 
overflowed  the  whole  earth.  The  friends  of  rev- 
elation were  naturally  disappointed  when  this 
position  was  disputed,  and  the  fossils  were 
alleged  to  have  belonged  in  general  to  periods 
much  more  ancient,  and  to  have  been  entombed 
where  they  are  now  found  under  other  circum- 
stances. The  question  arises.  How  far  does  the 
scriptural  account  of  the  Flood  appear  now  to 
accord  with  geological  phenomena  ?  To  discuss 
all  the  points  of  controversy  connected  with 
this    subject,   would    require   a    large    separate 


56  ACCORDANCE    OF    GEOLOGY 

treatise.  In  volume  14th  of  the  'Edinburgh 
Philosophical  Journal,'  there  is  an  ably-conduct- 
ed argument  between  Drs.  Fleming  and  Buck- 
land,  on  the  principal  points  in  dispute.  Divines 
have  been  blamed  for  obstructing  the  progress 
of  science.  But  Dr.  Fleming  had  the  moral 
courage  to  advance,  in  this  discussion,  opinions 
not  generally  received,  and  which  were  at  that 
time  in  advance  of  most  scientific  men  them- 
selves. The  conflicting  views  and  reasonings  are 
very  fairly  and  ably  exhibited  by  Professor 
Hitchcock,  in  volume  4th  of  the  '  Student's  Cab- 
inet Library.'  Ample  justice  is  done  to  the 
same  subject  by  Dr.  P.  Smith,  in  his  excellent 
work  on  Scripture  and  Geological  Science.  I 
will  restrict  myself  to  a  few  general  statements, 
which  may  indicate  the  results  of  much  elabor- 
ate disquisition. 

EXTENT  OF  THE  DELUGE. 

1.  Our  best  expositors  of  Scripture  are  now 
generally  of  opinion  that  the  flood,  though  exten- 
sive, was  local.  The  language  of  Scripture  cer- 
tainly seems,  at  first  sight,  most  unqualified  :  '  All 
the  high  hills  that  were  under  the  whole  heaven 


WITH    REVEALED    TRUTH.  57 

were  covered.'*  It  is  certain,  however,  that  Scrip- 
ture often  uses  general  language  with  a  restricted 
signification.  We  are  toldf  that  '  Adam  gave 
names  to  all  cattle,  and  to  the  fowl  of  the  air, 
and  to  every  beast  of  the  field.'  If  we  reflect  for 
a  moment,  we  perceive  that  this  statement,  when 
interpreted  according  to  its  letter,  involves  some- 
thing like  an  impossibility  ;  and  what  need  was 
there  to  name  any  animals  beyond  those  which 
were  to  serve  man,  and  form  the  subject  of  his 
discourse  ?  We  are  informed  that  in  consequence 
of  the  murrain  '  all  the  cattle  of  Egypt  died  ;'  and 
yet  some  escaped,  for  it  is  afterwards  mentioned 
that,  by  a  subsequent  plague,  the  Lord  '  smote  all 
that  was  in  the  field, both  man  and  beast.'J  When 
it  is  averred  that  ;  all  countries,'  we  can  only 
understand  that  some  countries  '  came  into  Egypt 
to  Joseph  to  buy  corn  ;'§  and  a  limited  portion  of 
the  habitable  world  must  be  intended  by  that 
'all  the  earth' ||  which  sought  to  hear  the  wisdom 
of  Solomon.  Within  a  certain  vessel  Peter  could 
only  see  some  samples,  when  he  is  represented  to 
have  seen  '  all  manner  of  four-footed  beasts  of  the 

*  Gen.  vii.  19.         t  Gen.  ii.  20.         X  Exod.  ix.  6,  25. 
§  Gen.  xli.  57.  II  1  Kings  iv.  34. 


58  ACCORDANCE    OF    GEOLOGY 

earth,  and  wild  beasts,  and  creeping  things,  and 
fowls  of  the  air.'*  At  the  time  the  Epistle  to  the 
Colossians  was  written,  most  of  the  world  was  in 
heathen  darkness,  and  in  utter  ignorance  of  the 
true  religion  ;  yet  in  that  epistle  Paul  speaks  of 
'  the  gospel  which  was  preached  to  every  creature 
under  heaven.'f  He  could  not  mean  to  expose 
himself  to  the  charge  of  palpable  untruth.  In  ail 
these,  and  many  like  cases,  we  readily  and  ne- 
cessarily assign  a  modified  sense  to  absolute 
terms.  There  is  no  reason  why  this  principle 
of  interpretation  should  be  held  inapplicable  to 
the  history  of  the  deluge.     . 

The  difficulties  which  beset  the  idea  of  a  uni- 
versal deluge,  irrespectively  of  geological  discov- 
eries, have  induced  many  expositors,  both 
ancient  and  modern,  to  believe  that  it  was 
limited. 

Even  when  we  take  the  largest  estimate  of  the 
size  of  the  ark,  its  dimensions  exclude  the  suppo- 
sition that  it  contained  all  land  animals,  and  the 
food  necessary  for  their  preservation.  The  num- 
ber of  species  of  terrestrial  mammiferse  alone  is, 
on  a  moderate  calculation,  about  seven  hundred  ; 
*  Actsx.  11,  12.  t  Col.  i.  23. 


WITH    REVEALED    TRUTH.  59 

and,  as  they  entered  the  ark  by  pairs,  this  gives 
us  fourteen  hundred  individuals.  Some  of  the 
animals  were  of  great  bulk.  There  are  two 
species  of  living  elephants,  probably  seven  kinds 
of  rhinoceros,  besides  many  gigantic  species  of 
the  ox  tribe,  of  deers,  antelopes,  etc.  In  addi- 
tion, we  have  about  four  thousand  species  of 
birds,  after  deducting  aquatic  fowls.  As  to  in- 
sects, there  must  be,  according  to  the  estimate 
of  able  naturalists,  above  two  hundred  thousand 
of  them.  Then  we  have  to  find  place  for  a  suf- 
ficiency of  food.  The  carnivoraa  would  require 
an  ample  supply  of  prey.  In  some  instances  the 
sustenance  needed  to  be  of  a  kind  which  could 
scarcely  be  stored  up,  for  how  could  the  ant- 
eaters  be  provided  with  their  ant-hills  ? 

All  the  difficulties  are  not  involved  in  the 
question  of  adequate  accommodation.  America 
has  its  peculiar  animals,  so  has  New  Holland, 
and  the  same  observation  applies  to  Africa  and 
Asia,  and  even  to  their  associated  islands,  Mad- 
agascar, Java,  Borneo,  etc.  How  were  the  ani- 
mals  to  be  transported  from  these  regions  and 
back    again,  and    how  were    they  to   find  their 


60  ACCORDANCE     OF    GEOLOGY 

proper  food  and  temperature  by.  the  way?* 
Difficulties  multiply  upon  us  the  longer  we  con- 
sider the  subject.  Many  plants  would  be  de- 
stroyed by  a  marine  deluge,  as  certainly  as 
animals,  and  would  equally  require  to  be  shel- 
tered from  the  salt  water. 

It  is  true  that  all  these  obstructions  could 
have  been  removed  by  miracles.  A  miracle 
could  have  brought  the  animals  together,  and 
afterwards  restored  them  to  their  respective 
domains.  A  miracle  could  have  reduced  their 
dimensions,  and  made  them  small  enough  to  be 

*  If  anything  more  were  required  to  show  the  partial  lo- 
cation of  birds,  the  galapagos  archipelago  might  be  men- 
tioned :  of  26  specimens  shot  by  Mr.  Darwin,  25  were 
peculiar,  though  bearing  a  strong  resemblance  to  American 
types;  some  birds  were  even  confined  to  particular  islands; 
and  the  gulls,  one  of  the  most  widely-dispersed  families. 
are  peculiar.  But  on  this  comparatively  recent  volcanic 
group,  only  500  miles  distant  from  the  coast  of  America, 
everything  is  peculiar,  birds,  plants,  reptiles,  and  fish,  and 
though  under  the  equator,  all  have  sober  covering.  .  .  . 
The  distribution  of  animals  is  guided  by  laws  analogous  to 
those  which  regulate  the  distribution  of  plants,  insects, 
fishes,  and  birds.  Each  continent,  and  even  different  parts 
of  the  same  continent,  are  centres  of  zoological  families, 
which  have  always  existed  there,  and  nowhere  else  ;  each 
group  being  almost  always  specifically  different  from  all 
others. — Physical  Geography,  by  Mary  Somerville,  vol.  ii., 
pp.  210,  218.  These  are  most  instructive  volumes,  and 
they  are  admirably  adapted  to  the  general  reader. 


WITH    REVEALED    TRUTH.  61 

contained  in  the  ark  ;  as  in  Milton's  description 
the  fallen  angels  were  made  sufficiently  dwarfish 
to  be  accommodated  in  the  hall  of  pandsemoniuni : 

'  Behold  a  wonder  !  they  but  now  who  seemed 
In  bigness  to  surpass  earth's  giant  sons, 
Now  less  than  smallest  dwarfs  in  narrow  room 
Throng  numberlees.' 

Another  miracle  could  have  supplied  the  animals 
with  their  proper  food,  or  changed  their  mode  of 
life  altogether.  But  the  supposition  of  such  mi- 
racles is  highly  improbable,  not  to  say  irreverent. 
When  we  are  confuting  the  prodigies  of  the 
heathen,  we  are  accustomed  to  point  out  their 
want  of  adequate  object — their  apparent  useless- 
ness  ;  and  we  ought  not  rashly  to  expose  the 
miracles  of  Scripture  to  a  similar  reproach. 

If  we  adopt  the  principle  which  Scripture  itself 
so  unequivocally  sanctions — that  general  terms 
may  be  used  with  a  limited  sense — the  whole 
account  is  simple  and  consistent.  A  deluge  of 
great  extent  inundated  the  dry  land.  In  respect 
to  men,  whom  it  was  designed  to  punish  for  their 
-wickedness,  it  was  universal,  excepting  only 
Noah  and  his  family,  whom  it  pleased  God  to 
spare  alive.     Along  with  them  were  preserved 


62  ACCORDANCE    OF    GEOLOGY 

such  animals  as  were  most  useful  to  them,  and 
such  as  were  fitted  to  fulfil  the  purposes  of  Pro- 
vidence after  the  waters  should  have  retired. 


THE    TESTIMONY    OF    TRADITION. 

2.  The  deluge  of  Noah  has  general  tradition 
in  its  favour.  We  find  it  in  the  mythologies  of 
the  Egyptians,  Hindoos,  Chinese,  South  Sea 
Islanders,  etc.  etc.  Some  have  maintained  that 
these  traditions  relate  to  different  deluges,  and 
that  each  country  has  magnified  the  reminis- 
cences of  its  own  floods.  But  there  are  adequate 
grounds  for  rejecting  this  explanation.  It  is  not 
easy  to  suppose  that  there  have  been  in  all  coun- 
tries inundations  of  such  magnitude,  within  the 
human  period,  as  to  originate  in  all  of  them  such 
wonderful  legends.  Besides,  these  traditions 
have  so  much  in  common  with  the  scriptural 
narrative,  as  to  prove  the  identity  of  their  source. 
We  find  in  them  not  the  flood  only,  but  the  ark, 
the  raven,  the  dove,  the  olive  leaf,  and  other 
particulars.  It  has  been  also  shown  that  the 
traditionary  accounts  correspond  more  closely 
with   the  scriptural    narrative   as  we   approach 


WITH    REVEALED    TRUTH.  63 

that  region  of  Asia  where  the  ark  rested.  At 
one  period  the  chronicles  of  the  Chinese  were 
triumphantly  adduced  as  evidence  that  the  human 
race  has  been  visited  by  no  such  judgment  as  the 
flood  for  cycles  of  ages.  But  the  extreme  anti- 
quity of  these  chronicles  is  now  abandoned  by 
sceptics  themselves ;  and  this  shows  how  cautious 
we  should  be  in  attaching  importance  to  specious 
objections,  which  may  do  incalculable  mischief, 
and  then  be  entirely  exploded.* 

*  The  various  and  discordant  speculations  respecting  the 
antiquity  of  ancient  monuments,  afford  an  instructive  lesson 
as  to  the  danger  of  drawing  conclusions  from  negative  or 
uncertain  premises.  In  no  instance  is  this  more  apparent 
than  in  the  history  of  discussions  respecting  some  points  of 
Hindoo  antiquity,  and  concerning  the  date  of  the  Zodiacs 
found  in  the  temples  of  Upper  Egypt.  The  astronomers  and 
scholars  of  Europe  were  long  perplexed  in  fixing  the  date  of 
the  construction  of  the  Zodiacs  of  Esne  and  Dendera.  It 
was  imagined  that  these  Zodiacs  represented  the  state  of 
the  heavenly  bodies  at  a  very  remote  epoch.  By  some  they 
were  supposed  to  indicate  the  extravagant  antiquity  of  fif- 
teen thousand  years ;  others  were  more  cautious,  and  in- 
ferred the  comparatively  limited  age  of  four  thousand  years 
before  the  Christian  era ;  while  another  believed  they  were 
no  older  than  the  battle  of  Actium.  As  Cuvier  has  justly 
remarked,  all  these  conjectures  became  useless,  when  peo- 
ple ended  where  they  should  have  begun,  by  studying  the 
Greek  inscriptions  sculptured  on  the  monuments,  and  when 
Champollion  deciphered  their  hieroglyphics.  It  is  now  ascer- 
tained that  these  supposed  ancient  temples  were  erected  dur- 


64  ACCORDANCE    OF    GEOLOGY 


A    DELUGE    NOT     IMPOSSIBLE. 

3.  Geology  proves  that  the  supposition  of  a 
deluge  involves  no  natural  impossibility.  In- 
fidels were  wont  to  prove  that  the  waters  of  the 
earth  were  not  of  sufficient  quantity  to  reach  the 
summit  of  the  highest  mountains,  and  that  ocean 
must  be  heaped  above  ocean  before  this  effect 
could  be  produced.  Now  it  is  known  that  any 
region,  however  elevated  above  the  level  of  the 
sea,  may  be  brought,  by  subsidence,  under   its 

ing  the  domination  of  the  Romans.  The  portico  of  the 
temple  of  Dendera  bears  a  Greek  inscription  stating  that  it 
was  consecrated  to  the  prosperity  of  Tiberius.  The  temple 
of  Esne,  whose  construction  was  placed  as  far  back  as  about 
three  thousand  years  before  the  Christian  era,  has  a  column 
whose  inscription  gives  it  the  date  of  the  tenth  year  of  the 
Emperor  Antoninus.  There  is  still  more  decisive  proof  that 
these  Zodiacs  have  no  reference  either  to  the  precession  of 
the  equinoxes,  or  a  change  of  the  solstices.  A  mummy 
cloth  brought  from  Egypt  has  a  very  legible  Greek  inscrip- 
tion respecting  a  young  man  who  died  in  the  nineteenth  year 
of  the  reign  of  Trajan.  The  cloth  has  also  a  Zodiac  painted 
on  it,  marked  in  a  similar  manner  to  that  of  Dendera,  and 
therefore  was,  in  all  probability,  a  mere  astrological  compo- 
sition respecting  the  individual  whose  body  was  wrapped  up 
in  it.  The  Zodiacs  in  the  temple,  are,  probably,  astrological 
formulae  respecting  the  dedication  of  the  building,  or  the 
nativity  of  the  emperor  in  whose  reign  it  was  constructed. 
— See  Cuvier's  Ossemens  Fossiles.  S. 


W I T II    RE  V  E  A  L  E  I)    T R  U  T II .  05 

waters,  and  that,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  loftiest 
peaks  have  been  actually  submerged.  Sir  C. 
Lyell  says,  that  if  the  deluge  be  understood  to 
have  covered  only  :  that  portion  of  the  earth 
which  was  then  inhabited  by  man.  there  are  two 
classes  of  phenomena  in  the  conriguration  of  the 
earth's  surface  which  might  enable  us  to  account 
for  such  an  event:  First,  extensive  lakes  ele- 
vated above  the  level  of  the  ocean  ;  secondly, 
large  tracts  of  land  depressed  below  that  level.'* 
Here,  then,  is  another  instance  in  which  a 
bold  and  seemingly  decisive  objection  to  scrip- 
tural narrative  has  perished  before  the  progress  of 
science.  It  is  now  proved  and  conceded  that  vast 
regions  have  been  laid  under  water :  and  if  we 
believe  that  the  deluge  was  universal  only  in 
respect  to  man,  beyond  whose  domains  the 
judgment  would  have  been  unmeaning,  then,  in 
such  events  as  have  incontrovertible  happened, 
we  have  an  appropriate  power  of  destruction 
quite  equal  to  the  results.  It  is  of  great  conse- 
quence to  observe  that  deluges  are  thus  shown  to 
be  a  part  of  the  course  of  nature.  When  this  is 
admitted,  and  no  one  now  denies  it,  all  that  we 

*  Vol.  iv.,  b.  iv.,  ch.  xix. 
E 


66  ACCORDANCE    OF    GEOLOGY 

are  required  to  believe  in  regard  to  the  Noabian 
deluge  is,  tbat  God,  in  a  particular  instance,  em- 
ployed, in  a  very  signal  manner,  bis  natural  and 
usual  administration  to  fulfil  bis  moral  purposes. 
Surely  this  proposition  sbould  create,  to  a  well- 
ordered  mind,  neither  offence  nor  alarm 

OBSERVATION  DOES  NOT  WARRANT  SCEPTICISM. 

4.  The  earth  presents  no  geological  appear- 
ances at  variance  with  a  belief  in  the  Noabian 
deluge.  There  has  been  little  examination  of 
Armenia  to  ascertain  the  distinctive  features  of 
its  diluvial  deposits  But  the  friend  of  revela- 
tion has  nothing  to  fear  from  scrutiny,  what- 
ever may  be  its  results.  Although  no  traces 
of  devastating  currents  should  remain,  the  fact, 
by  the  showing  of  geologists  themselves,  would 
prove  nothing  against  the  Bible.  In  arguing 
that  the  fossiliferous  strata  could  not  have 
been  formed  by  the  flood,  they  have  proved, 
at  great  length,  that  a  temporary  submergence 
of  land  could  not  produce  so  great  effects,  and 
would  leave  very  few  monuments.  Why,  then, 
should  we  be    startled    if   the    monuments    on 


WITH    REVEALED    TRUTH.  67 

further  examination  shall  not  be  discovered  ? 
While  some  have  ascribed  an  utter  demoli- 
tion of  the  earth's  crust  to  the  flood,  and  have 
thus  caricatured  its  probable  consequences,  per- 
haps some  have  gone  to  the  opposite  extreme,  by 
saying  that  it  would  make  no  impression  at  all 
on  the  constituents  of  a  landscape.  But  though 
masses  of  detritus  were  accumulated  in  parti- 
cular localities,  and  the  distribution  of  hills  and 
valleys  were  somewhat  changed,  who,  after  the 
lapse  of  very  many  centuries,  could  certainly 
discriminate  these  effects  from  those  of  preced- 
ing or  subsequent  agencies  1  If  a  river  overflow 
its  banks,  or  a  lake  burst  its  barriers,  we  see  sad 
ravages  committed  over  the  adjacent  region. 
But  next  year  they  are  less  visible.  In  a  few 
years  the  action  of  the  elements  has  farther 
modified  their  obviousness ;  and  when  centuries 
shall  have  elapsed,  how  shall  they  be  certainly 
recognised  ? 

In  making  these  remarks,  I  am  taking  the 
lowest  ground  as  being  the  surest  ground.  Some 
eminent  geologists  do  not  yet  consider  a  de- 
luge, which  may  be  called  general,  at  all  dis- 
proved.    Professor  Hitchcock,  for  example,  who 


63  ACCORDANCE    OF    GEOLOGY 

has  so  fully  espoused  and  so  ably  defended  the 
principles  of  modern  geology,  maintains  that  a 
deluge  appears  to  have  overflowed  a  great  por- 
tion of  our  globe  at  a  date  comparatively  recent  5 
and  that  for  anything  science,  in  its  present  state, 
shows  to  the  contrary,  this  may  have  been  the 
deluge  of  Noah.*     The  position  I  have   taken, 

*  '  If  we  mistake  not,  then,  the  deluges  of  Scripture  and  of 
geology,  may,  or  may  not,  have  been  universal,  in  con- 
sistency with  the  language  of  the  sacred  history,  and  with 
the  facts  of  science  as  they  are  at  present  understood.  They 
agree,  therefore,  in  having  been  very  extensive,  if  not  uni- 
versal. And  in  view  of  such  proofs  of  their  identity,  it 
should  require  decisive  evidence  to  the  contrary  to  disjoin 
them.'  .  .  Professor  Hitchcock  then  mentions  the  prin- 
cipal objections  to  this  identity,  and  adds;— 'Upon  the 
whole,  the  arguments  against  the  identity  of  the  two  deluges 
appear  to  us  rather  to  preponderate.  il  This  important  point, 
however,"  to  use  the  language  of  Dr.  Buckland,  "  cannot  be 
considered  as  completely  settled,  till  more  detailed  investiga- 
tions of  the  newest  members  of  the  Pliocene,  and  of  the 
diluvial  and  alluvial  formations  shall  have  taken  place." 
We  feel  no  great  anxiety  how  this  question  is  settled,  as  to 
its  bearing  upon  revelation.  But  examined  in  the  true 
spirit  of  the  Baconian  philosophy,  it  seems  to  us  there  is 
quite  too  much  evidence  of  the  identity  of  the  two  deluges, 
and  quite  too  much  ignorance  of  the  whole  subject  of  di- 
luvium yet  remaining,  to  permit  an  impartial  geologist  to 
decide  preremptorily,  as  some  have  done,  that  they  could 
not  have  been  contemporaneous.  We  rather  prefer  that 
state  of  mind  in  which  the  judgment  remains  undecided, 
waiting  for  further  light.     Meanwhile,  it  is  sufficient,  so  far 


WITH    REVEALED    TRUTH.  69 

however — that  the  deluge  was  probably  local, 
though  extensive,  and  that  such  deluges  have 
certainly  happened — removes  all  objection  to  the 
Bible,  and  it  is  such  as  infidels  themselves  can 
scarcely  call  in  question.  In  fact,  some  enemies 
to  the  Gospel  have  seen  the  historical  proof  of 
the  deluge  to  be  so  strong,  that  they  have  con- 
fessed it  to  be  irresistible.  M.  Boue,  for  exam- 
ple, an  eminent  writer  and  scoffer  of  the  French 
school,  has  said,  '  I  shall  be  vexed  to  be  thought 
stupid  enough  to  deny  that  an  inundation  or 
catastrophe  has  taken  place  in  the  world,  or 
rather  in  the  region  inhabited  by  the  antedilu- 
vians. To  me  this  seems  to  be  as  really  a  fact 
in  history  as  the  reign  of  Ccesar  at  Rome.'* 

So  safe  are  we  with  the  simple  narrative  of 
Scripture.  But  where  would  we  have  been  had 
the  Bible  contained  some  of  the  defences  of  it 
put  forth  by  its  misguided  friends?  What  way 
of  escape  should  we  have  had  if  any  writer  held 

as  revelation  is  concerned,  to  have  shown  that  no  presump- 
tion is  derived  from  geology  against  the  truth  of  Moses1 
history  of  the  deluge  ;  but  rather  a  presumption  in  its  fa- 
vour, even  on  the  most  unfavourable  supposition.'—  Cabinet 
Library,  vol.  iv..  pp.  372-374. 

*  Quoted  by  Professor  Hitchcock,  Cab.  Lib.,  vol.  iv.,  p. 
299. 


70  ACCORDANCE    OF    GEOLOGY 

by  us  to  be  inspired,  had  assured  us  that  the 
deluge  was  caused  by  the  approach  or  stroke  of 
a  comet  ?  It  is  now  ascertained  that  a  comet 
has  no  solidity,  and  that  even  its  densest  portion 
consists  of  attenuated  vapour.  A  hundred  other 
explanations,  equally  untenable,  have  been  of- 
fered, which,  if  they  had  been  a  part  of  the  Bible 
itself,  as  they  were  designed  to  be  a  vindication 
of  it.  would  have  brought  into  utter  discredit  its 
claims  to  authenticity.  So  true  is  it  that  the 
folly  of  God  is  better  than  the  wisdom  of  man  ; 
and  that  while  systems  of  philosophy  change 
continually  their  phases,  the  word  of  the  Lord 
endureth  for  ever. 

Allow  me  to  add,  that  if  geology  has  its  pro- 
per evidence,  so  has  Scripture — evidence  clear, 
and  broad,  and  varied,  which  no  difficulties 
affect — and  that  the  same  searching  after  truth 
which  has  led  men  of  scientific  mind  to  acqui- 
esce in  modern  geology,  has  induced  many  of 
the  more  eminent  of  their  number  to  own  the 
proof  of  Scripture  to  be  decisive  and  irresistible. 
The  great  Cuvier,  the  father  of  philosophic 
geology,  was  president  of  the  Bible  Society  in 
Paris,  and  was  meditating  a  speech  for  one  of 


WITH    REVEALED    TRUTH.  71 

its  meetings,  eulogistic  of  the  Bible,  when  he 
was  removed  by  death.  Need  I  speak  of  Silli- 
man,  professor  of  chemistry  in  Yale  College, 
America;  of  M'Culloch,  like  the  others  I  have 
mentioned,  no  divine,  but  a  profound  geologist, 
and  strong  advocate  of  the  Christian  religion  1 
It  would  be  tedious  to  enumerate  such  men  as 
Sedgwick,  Conybeare.  Buckland,  Bakewell,  Mil- 
ler, all  enlightened  geologists,  and  friends  of 
biblical  truth. 

We  have  had,  I  confess,  Biblico-Geological 
Treatises,  written  with  all  the  fervour  of  zeal, 
and  all  the  rashness  of  indiscretion.  '  Let  us 
for  a  moment  suppose,'  says  Professor  Sedgwick, 
'  that  there  are  some  religious  difficulties  in  the 
conclusions  of  geology.  How  then  are  we  to  solve 
them  ?  Not  by  making  a  world  after  a  pattern  of 
our  own — not  by  shifting  and  shuffling  the  solid 
strata  of  the  earth,  and  then  dealing  them  out 
in  such  a  way  as  to  play  the  game  of  an  ignorant 
or  dishonest  hypothesis — not  by  shutting  our 
eyes  to  facts,  or  denying  the  evidence  of  our 
senses  :  but  by  patient  investigation,  carried  on 
in  the  sincere  love  of  truth,  and  by  learning  to 
reject  every  consequeuce  not  warranted  by  di- 


72  ACCORDANCE    OF    GEOLOGY 

rect  physical  evidence.  Pursued  in  this  spirit, 
geology  can  neither  lead  to  any  false  conclusions, 
nor  offend  against  any  religious  truth.  And 
this  is  the  spirit  with  which  many  men  have  of 
late  years  followed  this  delightful  science.  But 
there  is  another  class  of  men  who  pursue  geology 
by  a  nearer  road,  and  are  guided  by  a  different 
light.  Well  intentioned  they  may  be.  but  they 
have  betrayed  no  small  self-sufficiency,  along 
with  a  shameful  want  of  knowledge  of  the  fun- 
damental facts  they  presume  to  write  about : 
hence  they  have  dishonoured  the  literature  of 
this  country  by  Mosaic  Geology,  Scripture  Ge- 
ology, and  other  works  of  cosmogony  with  kin- 
dred titles,  wherein  they  have  overlooked  the 
aim  and  end  of  revelation,  tortured  the  book  of 
life  out  of  its  proper  meaning,  and  wantonly 
contrived  to  bring  about  a  collision  between 
natural  phenomena  and  the  word  of  God.'*  We 
cannot  stand  by  these  defences  of  Scripture,  but 
we  can  stand  by  Scripture  itself.  Why  is  it  so '? 
Why  is  the  alleged  folly  of  revelation  more 
tenable  than  the  wisdom  of  its  advocates  ?     The 

*  On  the  Studies  of  the  University  ;  quoted   Stud.  Cab. 
Lib.,  No.  xix.,  p.  22. 


WITH    REVEALED    TRUTH.  73 

most  easy  and  natural  explanation  is,  that  '  all 
Scripture  is  given  by  inspiration  of  God.'  In 
its  simple  and  unsophisticated  statements,  we 
have  an  impregnable  munition  of  rocks  ;  and 
strong  in  this  confidence,  we  defy,  we  court  in- 
vestigation. A  contracted  policy  of  cowardice 
on  the  one  hand,  or  of  intolerance  on  the  other, 
may  have  gloomed  on  fair  inquiry,  and  forbid- 
den its  prosecution,  and  deprecated  its  results  ; 
and  all  may  have  been  presented  as  an  accep- 
table offering  on  the  altar  of  Christian  faith. 
But  Christianity  ejects  the  gift  from  its  sanc- 
tuary— disclaims  the  necessity  and  denounces 
the  expedient.  It  proclaims  the  whole  universe 
to  be  God's  temple,  and  invites  all  to  inquire 
in  it,  who  will  inquire  reverently.  '  Lift  up  your 
eyes  to  the  heavens,  and  look  upon  the  earth 
beneath.'  '  Stand  still,  and  consider  the  won- 
drous works  of  God.'  '  The  works  of  the  Lord 
are  great ;  sought  out  of  all  them  that  take  plea- 
sure therein.'  '  Walk  about  Zion,  and  go  round 
about  her:  tell  the  towers  thereof;  mark  ye 
well  her  bulwarks ;  consider  her  palaces,  that 
ye  may  tell  it  to  the  generations  following,  for 
this  God  is  our  God  for  ever  and  ever.'     '  Prove 


74  ACCORDANCE    OF    GEOLOGY,    ETC. 

all  things,  hold  fast  that  which  is  good.'  In 
obeying  these  commands,  the  friends  of  revealed 
truth  will  find  nothing  to  subvert  it ;  they  will 
find  enlarged  and  multiplied  motives  to  credit 
its  doctrines  and  obey  its  statutes.  And  even 
its  adversaries,  in  attempting  its  overthrow,  will 
contribute  to  its  strength :  the  camp  of  the 
Assyrians  will  become  the  spoil  of  the  Israelites, 
and  the  glory  arrogated  by  man  will  redound  to 
God. 


GEOLOGY    IN    RELATION    TO,    ETC.  ?r> 


III. 


PROOFS  FURNISHED  BY  GEOLOGY  OF  THE 
BEING  AND  PERFECTIONS  OF  GOD. 

I  proceed  now  to  consider  the  moral  applica- 
tion of  geological  facts  and  principles,  regarded 
as  a  branch  of  natural  theology. 

In  this  aspect,  the  subject  is  full  of  practical 
interest,  and  is  well  adapted  to  invigorate 
devotion. 

It  has  been  already  stated  that  natural  theology 
treats  of  the  evidence  for  the  being  and  perfections 
of  God,  derived  from  the  manifestation  of  design 
in  the  works  of  creation.  Geology  has  supplied 
most  valuable  additions  to  this  argument  from 
final  causes.  In  drawing  attention  very  briefly 
to  the  nature  of  its  testimony,  I  shall  speak  of 
the  organic,  and  then  of  the  inorganic  world. 


76  GEOLOGY    IN    RELATION    TO 


GEOLOGY    IN    ITS    RELATION    TO    THE    ORGANIC 
WORLD. 

The  anatomy  of  living  species  has  furnished 
writers  on  natural  theology  with  ample  and  in- 
teresting proofs.  But  geology  accomplishes  a  more 
remarkable  feat.  It  supplies  the  history  of  in- 
numerable races  of  animals  and  vegetables  which 
have  been  long  extinct,  and  points  out  the  most 
diversified  proofs  of  wise  and  benevolent  design 
in  the  structure  of  organic  remains  with  which 
ancient  strata  are  interspersed.  It  demonstrates 
that  plants  which  grow  no  more,  and  animals 
which  live  no  more,  exhibited  the  most  perfect 
adaptation  to  their  respective  localities  and  means 
of  subsistence. 

To  select  some  of  the  best  of  countless  ex- 
amples, and  present  them  in  lucid  order  and 
expression,  would  be  a  service  by  no  means 
unimportant  to  my  aim,  and  which,  with  the  aids 
now  had  in  abundance,  might  be  performed 
without  great  originality  or  research.  But  I  do 
not  feel  myself  competent  to  the  task  ;  and  though 
I  were,  I  could  ill  spare  the  time  which  the  cxe- 


NATURAL    RELIGION.  77 

cution  of  it  would  require  of  me.  I  will  restrict 
myself  to  a  short  account  of  the  Megatherium  ; 
aud  in  the  brief  notice  of  it  I  am  about  to  give, 
I  will  take  aid  freely  from  the  fuller  description 
of  Professor  Ansted.  for  which  he  confesses  him- 
self largely  indebted  to  Professor  Owen. 


THE  MEGATHERIUM. 

The  name  Megatherium  means  Great  Beast. 
The  remains  of  the  huge  animal  so  called  are  found 
in  the  continent  of  South  America,  in  beds  of 
the  later  tertiary  period.  It  belongs  to  the  order 
of  Edentata,  [i.  g.,  toothless,  from  the  absence  of 
cutting  teeth.]  and  is  most  nearly  allied  to  the 
sloth  among  existing  species.  The  sloth  is  still 
common  in  the  forests  of  South  America.  When 
it  is  on  the  ground,  it  moves  slowly  and  with 
much  difficulty.  Seeing  it  in  such  a  position, 
one  would  pronounce  it  a  very  unseemly 
creature,  and  most  awkwardly  constructed.  But 
it  never  descends  to  the  earth  voluntarily.  Its 
home  is  among  the  branches  of  trees,  on  the 
foliage  and  tender  twigs  of  which  it  feeds  ;  and 
for  that  place  of  residence  and  mode  of  life,  its 


78  GEOLOGY    IN    RELATION    TO 

limbs  and  all  its  organs  display  the  most  perfect 
adaptation.*  It  can  suspend  itself  from  a  bough, 
which  it  clasps  with  all  its  four  legs,  and  while 
thus  hung  in  mid  air,  under  the  branch,  can 
most  composedly  enjoy  its  leafy  repast.  When 
change  of  place  is  needed,  it  can  pass  from 
tree  to  tree,  and  pursue  its  branched-way  through 
the  forest  with  the  greatest  nimbleness  and 
agility.  Every  one  who  has  visited  tropical 
regions,  has  been  struck  with  the  singular  and 
beautiful  appearance  of  parasitical  plants  grow- 

*  The  mechanism  of  the  claws  of  two  tribes  of  animals 
presents  very  interesting  matter  for  reflection.  In  the 
carnivorous  feline,  the  claws  are  only  occasionally  used,  and 
not  to  impede  motion,  they  are  retracted  and  drawn  up,  and 
of  this  every  one  has  a  familiar  and  domestic  example  in 
the  claws  of  the  cat.  In  the  cat,  the  claws  are  held  retracted 
by  elastic  ligaments,  that  is,  by  a  mere  physical  not  a  vital 
force,  consequently  without  fatigue  or  any  effort  of  will  on 
the  part  of  the  animal.  On  the  other  hand,  the  erection  of 
the  claws,  and  their  employment  in  seizing  and  tearing,  is  a 
voluntary  process,  performed  by  muscular  force,  which  is 
liable  to  fatigue.  If  from  the  cat  tribe  we  turn  to  the  sloths, 
we  find  the  arrangement  inverted.  In  the  sloth  the  claws 
are  usually  employed  in  grasping,  and  hence  they  are  re- 
tained in  that  state  by  an  elastic  ligament,  that  is,  a  physical 
power,  not  vital.  On  the  contrary,  they  are  retracted  by  a 
muscular  force,  because  this  is  rarely  required  in  an  animal 
whose  whole  life  is  spent  in  embracing  the  branches  of 
trees.  S. 


FOSSIL      REMAINS. 


^SiM 


Mylodon  Robu^tus. 


NATURAL    RELIGION.  79 

ing  in  the  woods.  The  cotton  trees  which  I  saw 
in  Jamaica  had  their  vast  horizontal  branches 
covered  with  them,  and  presented  the  remarkable 
aspect  of  a  rich  and  variegated  nursery  in  the 
skies  But  the  sloth  turns  these  plants  to  prac- 
tical advantage,  and  avails  itself  of  their  natural 
cordage  and  network,  which  unite  the  branches, 
to  prosecute  its  sylvan  course  with  the  greater 
facility. 

Some  remarkable  peculiarities  of  the  skeleton 
of  the  sloth  arc  found  in  the  Megatherium,  but 
with  such  modifications  in  the  shortening  and 
lengthening  of  the  legs,  and  the  addition  of  a 
powerful  tail,  as  to  show  very  considerable  differ- 
ence of  habits,  along  with  essential  and  import- 
ant resemblance.  Its  length  was  about  nineteen 
feet,  its  breadth  across  the  loins  nearly  six  feet, 
its  height  not  exceeding  nine  feet.  The  trunk 
of  its  enormous  body  was  terminated  by  a  pelvis, 
and  hind  extremities  nearly  three  times  as  large 
as  those  of  the  most  gigantic  elephant.  Its  food 
consisted  of  the  roots  or  of  ihe  softer  portions  of 
trees  ;  and  it  was  so  formed  that  it  might  rest  its 
hideous  weight  securely  on  the  hinder  legs  and 
tail,  while  its  fore  legs  were  freely  and  power- 


60  GEOLOGY    IN    RELATION    TO 

fully  exerted  in  uprooting  trees,  or  in  wrenching 
off  their  branches  and  stripping  them  of  their 
edible  parts.  The  posterior  portion  of  the  skel- 
eton, comprising  the  lumbar  vertebras,  the  bones 
of  the  pelvis,  the  tail,  and  the  hinder  extremities, 
exhibit  a  succession  of  contrivances  suited  to 
bear  up  against  extraordinary  bulk  and  ponder- 


*  '  The  first  thing,'  says  Professor  Ansted,  '  to  be  noticed 
with  reference  to  this  part,  is  the  wide  expanse  of  bone 
stretching  out  from  each  side  of  the  vertebral  column  to  a 
distance  of  five  feet,  and  scarcely  leaving  any  interval  in  the 
hollow  of  the  back.  Powerful  bones  are  seen  placed  at 
right  angles  to  the  spine  and  vertically  over  the  hind  legs, 
and  these  form  a  solid  mass  well  fitted  to  withstand  any 
amount  of  pressure,  and  enabling  the  hind  legs  to  support 
without  injury  almost  any  effort  that  could  be  made  by  the 
animal  when  resting,  as  if  on  a  tripod,  upon  its  hind  legs 
and  tail.  This  great  width  also  indicates  a  large  size  of  the 
abdominal  cavity,  adapted  to  the  habits  of  the  animal  as  a 
vegetable  feeder,  but  at  the  same  Jjme  rendering  it  ponder- 
ous and  unwieldy. 

1  Articulated  to  each  of  the  broad  plates  of  bone  stretch- 
ing out  thus  from  the  back,  we  find  legs  of  corresponding 
magnitude  and  strength.  The  thigh-bone  is  not  more  than 
twenty-eight  inches  long,  but  its  circumference  at  the 
smallest  part  is  equal  to  its  length,  while  the  circumference 
of  the  thigh-bone  of  an  elephant  is  not  more  than  twelve 
inches.  Although,  however,  the  thigh-bone  is  short,  it  is 
set  vertically,  and  not  obliquely  as  in  most  animals,  and  its 
full  length  is  thus  taken  advantage  of,  but  the  rate  of  pro- 


NATURAL    RELIGION.  81 

Professor  Ansted  shows  that  the  anterior  por- 
tions of  the  animal  are  not  less  in  keeping  with 

gression  would  thus  be  in  a  corresponding  degree  slow.  The 
size  of  the  leg  when  clothed  with  flesh  must  have  been 
large  even  in  reference  to  the  circumference  of  this  bone,  for 
it  is  much  flattened  and  expanded  outwards. 

'  The  character  of  strength  indicated  so  clearly  both  by 
the  proportion,  the  position,  and  the  peculiar  shape  of  the 
thigh-bone,  is  fully  preserved  in  the  other  bones  of  the  leg  ; 
for  we  find  the  two  bones,  the  tibia  and  fibula,  united 
together  both  at  the  top  and  bottom,  forming  an  almost 
solid  column,  nearly  as  large  as  the  femur,  and  set  vertically 
beneath  it.  This  is  a  contrivance  only  characterising  the 
armadilloes  among  living  animals,  and  in  them  it  corresponds 
with  an  apparatus  of  the  fore  extremity,  enabling  the  pos- 
sessor to  burrow  beneath  the  surface  of  the  earth.  Its 
object  is  to  offer  a  powerful  resistance  to  the  great  pressure 
exerted  when  the  hind  extremities  are  employed  as  the 
purchase,  while  the  fore-legs  are  being  made  use  of  for  dig- 
ging. In  the  mega  there  it  is  likely  that  the  similar  contri- 
vance was  useful  in  very  nearly  the  same  way. 

'The  base  of  the  column  we  have  just  been  considering 
was  no  less  remarkable  for  massiveness  and  extent  than 
was  the  vast  and  massive  shaft  itself.  The  bone  of  the  in- 
step is  a  cube  of  nearly  nine  inches  a  side ;  it  rests  on  a 
heel-bone  extending  eighteen  inches  backwards,  and  the 
other  bones  are  of  similar  proportions.  The  foot  was  ter- 
minated by  three  toes,  one  of  which  appears  to  have  been 
armed  with  a  tremendous  claw.  The  claw,  or  rather  its 
sheath,  for  of  the  actual  claw  itself  we  have  no  remains, 
measures  upwards  of  ten  inches  in  length  and  thirteen 
inches  in  circumference  at  the  root ;  and  in  this  respect, 
therefore,  the  analogy  with  the  sloth  is  still  preserved. 

The  tail  of  the  Megatherium   is  a  part  in  which  the 


CM  GEOLOGY    IN    RELATION    TO 

its  nature,  and  that  its  organs  collectively  form 
a  perfect  system.* 

extinct  genus  differed  essentially  from  the  sloth.  Its  length 
was  very  considerable,  certainly  not  less  than  five  feet.  The 
vertebrae  of  which  it  is  composed  are  so  large,  that  the 
circumference  of  this  organ  near  the  root  must  have  been 
between  five  and  six  feet.  Large  processes  are  attached  to 
the  caudal  vertebrae,  which  would  strengthen  it  greatly  :  and 
there  are  indications  on  the  back  of  extremely  powerful 
muscles  to  work  it.  It  assisted,  no  doubt,  in  occasionally 
supporting  part  of  the  weight  of  the  body.' — The  Ancient 
World,  ch.  xv.,  p.  342. 

*  I  cannot  resist  the  temptation  to  give  an  example  : — 
'  The  shoulder-bone  of  the  megathere  is  remarkable  for 
the  enormous  size  of  one  extremity.  It  is  small  in  the 
middle  and  upper  part,  and  is  connected  with  the  blade  bone 
by  a  round  head  fitting  into  a  socket  and  admitting  of  free 
motion.  At  the  lower  end,  however,  where  it  is  attached 
to  the  arm-bones,  it  attains  an  immense  breadth,  and  served 
for  the  attachment  of  muscles  of  extreme  and  unusual 
magnitude,  working  the  fore-foot.  The  use  of  this  expan- 
sion will  be  obvious,  if  we  compare  the  shoulder-bone  of  a 
ruminating  animal,  where  the  crests  are  scarcely  observable, 
with  the  corresponding  bone  in  the  elephant  and  rhinoceros. 
In  the  ant-eater,  this  contrivance  is  carried  yet  further,  and 
by  its  means  the  animal  is  greatly  aided  in  digging  up  the 
large  solid  nests  of  the  white  ant.  The  bones  articulated 
to  the  large  termination  of  the  shoulder-bone  correspond 
well  in  magnitude  and  strength.  The  one  is  broad,  power- 
ful at  its  upper  end,  and  short,  and  the  other  revolve?  freely 
upon  it,  giving  that  motion  of  the  fore  extremity  by  which 
man  is  able  to  move  his  hand  on  either  side  by  a  simple 
motion  of  the  wrist. 

'The  entire  fore-foot  must  have  been  a  yard  long  and 


NATURAL    RELIGION.  83 

Here,  then,  is  a  fossil  animal,  which  at  first 
view  appears  clumsy  as  well  as  colossal.  If  we 
mistake  its  calling,  and  judge  of  its  configuration 
by  uses  which  it  was  not  intended  to  fulfil, 
then  we  shall  be  tempted  to  pronounce  its  pro- 
portions ungraceful  and  cumbrous.  It  has  no 
provisions  for  speed.  But  what  need  could  it 
have  for  rapid  locomotion  ?  It  required  not  to 
pursue  after  prey,  for  it  was  graminivorous. 
And  wanting  the  feebleness,  it  required  not  the 
swiftness  of  the  roe  to  escape  from  predatory 
enemies  ;  for  a  stamp  of  its  foot  or  a  stroke  of 
its  tail  would  have  pounded  into  jelly  the  car- 
case of  a  lion,  had  such  a  foe  then  lived,  and 
would  have  extinguished  in  a  moment  the  vital- 
ity and  sovereignty  of  the  king  of  beasts.  But 
understand  that  this  quadruped  of  mountain-like 
dimensions,  subsisted  on  the  roots  and  other 
parts  of  trees,  and  needed  a  support  which  its 
weight  would  not  crush  when  its  fore-legs  should 
be  engaged   in    procuring   its   subsistence,  and 

twelve  inches  wide.  It  was  provided  with  five  toes,  three 
of  which  wltc  conspicuous  for  their  large  size,  and  were 
armed  with  long  and  powerful  claws.  The  other  toes  did 
not  appear  outside  the  foot,  being  only  rudimentary.' — The 
Ancient  JVorld,  ch.  xv.,  p.  345. 


84  GEOLOGY    IN    RELATION'    TO 

then  we  have  conditions  in  it3  frame  harmonis- 
ing with  its  destination  ;  and  legs,  and  feet, 
and  ribs,  and  tail,  and  claws,  and  teeth,  and  all 
the  constituents  of  its  anatomical  structure  accord 
with  the  place  assigned  it  in  the  range  of 
being. 

It  was  devoid  of  means  which  some  animals 
depending  on  the  same  kind  of  sustenance  have 
for  bringing  it  within  their  reach.  It  could  not 
burrow  in  the  ground  as  the  tuco-tuco,  a  rodent 
animal  described  by  Darwin,  does  to  exhume 
roots,  and  it  wauted  the  long  neck  of  the  giraffe 
to  reach  elevated  foliage.  But  it  had  ample 
compensation  for  the  absence  of  these  facilities 
in  its  simple  strength.  It  might  eye  with  the 
desire  of  hope  the  sturdiest  constituent  of  the 
forest.  When  it  had  poised  itself  on  its  hinder 
legs  and  columnar  tail,  thus  giving  to  its  enor- 
mous weight  a  pyramidal  base,  and  having 
clasped  with  its  fore-legs  the  stately  trunk, 
securely  swung  itself  from  side  to  side — the 
firmest  racine  attachments  would  be  loosened  by 
such  oscillations  —  the  strongest  stem  would 
bend  hither  and  thither  under  this  immense  and 
shifting  pressure  ;   till  the  agitated  tree,  though 


NATURAL    RELIGION'.  85 

it  were  a  monarch  of  the  forest,  would  be  laid 
prostrate,  and  its  deepest  roots  and  most  aspiring 
branches  would  become  equally  the  spoil  of  the 
monster  assailant. 

EXTINCTION  AND  INTRODUCTION  OF  SPECIES. 

Allied  to  the  Megatherium  were  various 
gigantic  species  which  may  be  grouped  together 
as  '  megatheroid  animals.'  But  the}T  have  all 
disappeared  from  the  scene  of  life,  and  though 
they  are  of  comparatively  modern  date,  centu- 
ries have  elapsed  since  the  last  of  them  looked 
vainly  for  its  companions,  and  lay  down  to  ex- 
pire in  sickness  and  in  solitude.  Many  species 
of  animals  have  shared  the  same  fate.  The  nau- 
tilus and  the  ammonite  are  two  shells  which  are 
found  together,  in  all  the  ancient  strata,  till  we 
rise  to  the  chalk,  and  there  the  entire  genus  of 
the  ammonites  bids  farewell  to  animated  nature. 
Mr.  Richardson  becomes  poetical  at  this  thought, 
and  gives  some  pretty  verses,  from  which  I  select 
the  following  : — 


86 


GEOLOGY    IN    RELATION    TO 


the  nautilus  and  the  ammonite. 

The  Nautilus  and  the  Ammonite 
Were  launched  in  friendly  strife; 

Each  sent  to  float,  in  its  tiny  boat, 
On  the  wide  wild  sea  of  life ! 

For  each  could  swim  on  the  ocean's  brim, 
And  when  wearied  its  sail  could  furl; 

And  sink  to  sleep  in  the  great  sea  deep, 
In  its  palace  all  of  pearl ! 


They  swam  'mid  isles,  whose  summer-smiles 

Were  dimmed  by  no  alloy  ; 
Whose  groves  were  palm,  whose  air  was  balm, 

And  life — one  only  joy  ! 

They  sailed  all  day,  through  creek  and  bay, 

And  traversed  the  ocean  deep  ; 
And  at  night  they  sank  on  a  coral  bank, 

In  its  fairy  bowers  to  sleep  ! 

And  the  monsters  vast,  of  ages  past, 
They  beheld  in  their  ocean-caves  ; 

They  saw  them  ride  in  their  power  and  pride. 
And  sink  in  their  deep  sea-graves. 

And  they  came,  at  last,  to  a  sea  long  past, 

But  as  they  reached  its  shore, 
The  Almighty's  breath  spoke  out  in  death, 

And  the  Ammonite  lived  no  more? 

So  the  Nautilus  now,  in  its  shelly  prow, 

As  over  the  deep  it  strays ; 
Still  seems  to  seek,  in  bay  and  creek, 

Its  companion  of  other  days. 


NATURAL    RELIGION.  87 

And  alike  do  we,  on  life's  stormy  sea, 

As  we  roam  from  shore  to  shore, 
Thus  tempest-tost  seek  the  lov'd,  the  lost, 

But  find  them  on  earth  no  more  !  * 

It  is  interesting  to  think  of  species  perishing, 
so  that  tribes  which  once  peopled  and  crowded 
whole  lands  and  seas  cease  to  have  a  living  re- 
presentative. But  Geology  establishes,  by  the 
most  abundant  proof,  the  yet  more  important 
fact,  that  new  species  have  been  ushered  into  the 
world  at  different  periods  of  its  history.  When 
countries  have  undergone  a  change  of  tempera- 
ture, and  races  adapted  to  the  former  state  of 
the  climate  have   died  out,  they  have  been  suc- 

*  Geology  for  Beginners,  Appendix  C. 
Although  it  may  appear  hypercriticism  to  measure  a  piece 
of  pleasing  poetry  by  a  zoological  standard,  yet  we  may  re- 
mark that  from  a  change  in  the  use  of  a  term  the  history 
of  two  very  different  animals  has  been  confounded.  The 
nautilus  of  the  ancients,  and  of  the  poets  of  all  ages,  is  not 
the  nautilus  of  zoologists.  The  ancient  nautilus,  which  we 
might  perhaps  call  nautilus  poetarum,  is  the  argonauta  argo 
of  naturalists.  The  shell  is  not  chambered,  and  the  broad 
expansion  of  two  of  the  arms  of  the  animal  has  given  rise 
to  the  fable  of  the  sailing  nautilus,  while  the  shell  has  no 
small  resemblance  to  a  gondola.  The  nautilus  of  geolo- 
gists and  zoologists  was  unknown  to  the  ancients.  Two 
species  still  survive  in  the  eastern  seas,  but  they  have  no 
apparatus  comparable  to  a  sail,  and  the  shells  are  cham- 
bered. S. 


OS  GEOLOGY    IN    RELATION    TO 

ceeded  by  new  orders,  most  of  which  could  not 
have  lived  under  the  prior  condition  of  things, 
but  are  every  way  adapted  to  the  altered  cir- 
cumstances. Our  own  country  presents  numer- 
ous examples.  Its  fossil  flora  and  fauna,  plants 
and  animals,  evince  congeniality  with  tropical 
warmth.  If  restored  to  life  now,  they  would, 
with  few  exceptions,  speedily  relapse  into  ex- 
tinction, amid  the  chill  blasts  of  this  degenerate 
epoch.  But  tribes  to  which  the  caloric  of  past 
days  would  have  been  enfeebling  and  deadly,  are 
at  home  and  healthful  in  our  frigid  atmosphere.* 
These   facts    confute   the    notion    so   lono-  in 

*  The  relation  of  animals  to  external  conditions  of  tem- 
perature is  obvious,  and  there  are  extremes  of  heat  and 
cold  which  limit  the  existence  of  species.  These  limits 
vary  with  the  species.  It  is,  however,  to  be  remembered 
that  very  different  animals  may  live  under  nearly  similar 
physical  conditions.  Thus,  the  crocodiles  of  the  Nile  and 
Ganges,  although  of  distinct  species,  might,  beyond  doubt, 
change  rivers,  and  still  subsist ;  and  the  saguor  of  America 
might  live  in  the  delta  of  the  Niger  as  well  as  on  the  banks 
of  the  Amazon.  The  capability  of  animals  for  enduring 
changes  of  temperature  is  often  far  greater  than  we  would 
suspect.  The  tiger  is  often  killed  in  the  coldest  regions  of 
Siberia;  and  it  is  not  twenty  centuries  since  the  lion  lived 
in  Thrace,  the  modern  Roumelia.  and  on  the  banks  of  the 
waters  of  the  Danube.  Still  it  is  true  that,  from  a  survey 
of  the  extensive  groups  of  plants  and  animals,  we  may  infer 
the  nature  of  the  climate,  as  above  stated.  S. 


NATURAL    RELIGION.  89 

favour  with  atheists,  that  events  have  been  going 
on  just  as  we  see  them,  through  a  past  eternity ; 
and  that  animals  have  produced  animals,  and 
plants  have  produced  plants,  each  after  its 
kind,  in  all  prior  ages.  Metaphysicians  urged 
many  powerful  objections  to  this  assumption, 
and  exerted  their  energies  in  proving  that  an 
eternal  succession  of  generations  is  a  tenet  in- 
volving contradiction  and  absurdity.  But  we 
have  no  longer  need  of  these  abstract  arguments. 
By  the  aid  of  geology  we  can  now  bring  the 
controversy  to  the  test  of  facts ;  and  in  the 
strata  of  the  earth,  we  have  tables  of  stone, 
on  which  are  written,  in  decisive  and  in- 
delible characters,  an  utter  disproval  of  the 
atheistical  hypothesis.  The  supposed  sameness 
of  the  world  vanishes  before  scrutiny,  and  with- 
out and  within  it  is  inscribed  with  change.  We 
stand  in  the  woods  of  South  America,  and  while 
we  gaze  on  their  vegetation,  and  mark  the 
structure  and  habits  of  their  birds  and  beasts, 
and  debate  with  ourselves  the  question,  whether 
what  is  be  only  a  repetition  of  what  has  been, 
and  the  history  of  life  be  a  sheer  exemplification 
of  a  perpetual    motion,  the    curtain   drops,    the 


90 


GEOLOGY     IN     RELATION    TO 


scene  changes,  the  past  returns;  and  now  we 
have  a  world  so  old  that  to  us  it  is  new.  The 
megatheres  are  traversing  the  recesses  of  these 
strange  woods  ;  and  the  goodliest  trees  bend  under 
their  paws  and  quiver  under  their  gnawings,  as 
if  seized  with  the  terrors  of  irresistible  destruction. 
And  the  Toxodon  is  there — a  pachyderiiiata- 
rodent  animal  of  gigantic  proportions — having 
so  much  in  its  complicated  structure,  both  of  the 
terrestrial  and  the  aquatic,  that  it  is  difficult  to 
say  whether  it  moved  on  the  land,  or  remained 
in  the  water.  And  the  Macrauchenia,  with  a 
body  about  as  large  as  that  of  a  rhinoceros,  and 
a  neck  nearly  as  long  as  that  of  the  giraffe,  is 
slowly  crossing  the  level  country — secure  from 
human  assault,  for  as  yet  there  is  no  man.  And 
the  Glyptodon,  almost  as  colossal  as  the  mega- 
theres, but  resembling  in  form  the  tortoise,  or 
rather  armadillo,  and  clad  in  a  coat  of  mail  which 
would  have  crushed  au  animal  less  powerful, 
clears  away  the  vegetation  which  leaf-eating 
tribes  of  smaller  capacity  have  spared. 

When  we  have  begun  to  be  familiar  with 
the  life  and  times  of  these  creatures,  geology 
once  more  deranges  our  notions  of  settled  order. 


1 

I 

NATURAL    RELIGION.  91 

It  transfers  us  to  other  regions,  and  throws  us 
back  on  older  eras.  We  are  carried  in  the 
spirit  of  palaeontology  to  the  compartment  of  the 
globe  where  England  now  is,  but  then  was  not ; 
and  strange  seas  are  spread  out  before  us,  and 
frightful  saurians  of  the  early  ages  of  the 
secondary  period  tenant  these  waters.  The 
Ichthyosaurus,  or  fish-lizard,  of  which  not  the 
genus  only,  but  the  entire  natural  order,  is  lost, 
rules  and  ravages  the  ocean.  With  a  length  of 
thirty  to  forty  feet,*  with  enormous  eyes,  com- 
bining microscopic  and  telescopic  power — which 
neither  minuteness  nor  distance  can  elude — 
with  jaws  full  of  conical  teeth,  and  plated  and 
cross  braced  to  render  their  grasp  as  powerful 
as  it  is  prompt,  this  monstrous  marine  reptile 
is  plying  its  paddles,  and  dashing  through 
billows,  and  filling  its  capacious  stomach  with 
indiscriminate  prey.f    More  near  to  the  land,  the 

*  Geologists  give  very  different  measurements  of  fossil 
animals.  It  does  not  follow  that  their  accounts  are  contra- 
dictory, since  different  specimens  may  have  been  adopted  as 
standards.  In  these  paragraphs  my  principal  authority  for 
numbers  is  Professor  Ansted. 

t  There  is  evidence  that  the  ichthyosaurus,  when  urged 
by  its  appetite,  did  not  abstain  from  feeding  on  its  own 
species.  S. 


92  GEOLOGY    IN    RELATION    TO 

plesiosaurus,  a  creature  of  about  thirty  feet  long. 
and  also  a  voracious  lizard,  only  less  dreadful 
than  the  last  mentioned,  is  scouring  the  shallower 
water,  and  following  the  movements  of  its 
meditated  victim  with  the  curlings  and  twistings 
of  a  long  serpentine  neck.  And  these  waters 
are  rich  in  encrinites,  animals  of  so  peculiar  and 
complicated  a  structure,  that  in  some  species  the 
number  of  separate  calcareous  pieces  of  which 
their  singular  skeleton  is  made  up,  has  been  cal- 
culated to  amount  to  not  less  than  one  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand,  And  ammonites  and  belem- 
nites  here  abound,  and  countless  fishes  of 
many  kinds,  all  differing  more  or  less  from  our 
living  aquatic  population.  Leave  this  region, 
and  after  cycles  have  elapsed,  visit  it  again,  and 
once  more  it  defies  recognition,  and  we  seem  to 
have  entered  a  different  planet.* 

*  To  have  a  proper  conception  of  the  vastness  of  such 
revolutions,  we  must  not  restrict  ourselves  to  the  considera- 
tion of  their  completeness,  but  also  extend  our  views  to  the 
number  of  created  beings  which  they  comprise.  Not  only 
must  every  class  of  the  animal  kingdom  be  comprehended, 
but  we  have  to  remember  that  parallel  changes  have  affected 
successive  creations  of  the  vegetable  kingdom  also.  But, 
further,  it  is  only  fragments  of  past  creations  which  have 
come  down  to  us.     The  soft  fleshy  animals,  destitute  of 


NATURAL    RELIGION.  93 

Such  exchanges  of  species  exclude  all  notions 
of  unvarying  succession  ;  and  altogether  the 
proved  mutability  of  the  world  is  an  admirable 
nntidote    to    atheistical    tendencies.       Atheism, 

solid  parts,  would  decay  with  rapidity ;  the  vast  tribes  of 
insects,  and  the  delicate  or  shrubby  plants,  would  rarely 
leave  any  memorial  of  their  existence ;  the  class  of  birds 
would  seldom  be  preserved,  although,  by  a  strange  peculi- 
arity, we  find  the  impressions  of  their  footmarks  in  strata  in 
which  we  have  not  hitherto  detected  their  bones.  If  we 
may  reason  from  the  known  to  the  unknown,  we  may  find 
at  least  approximations  which  will  give  us  some  idea  of  the 
extent  of  these  revolutions.  Already  the  number  of  species 
of  fossil  shells,  recorded  by  naturalists,  exceeds  that  of  ex- 
isting species ;  in  respect  to  the  great  terrestrial  quadru- 
peds, the  number  of  genera  and  species  found  in  the  tertiary 
strata  is  greater  than  that  of  living  kinds,  described  in  sys- 
tematic works.  As  the  deposition  of  strata,  that  is,  the 
transportation  of  detritus  to  the  sea  and  lakes,  there  to  find 
a  resting-place,  involves  the  existence  of  islands,  continents, 
and  rivers,  we  have  every  reason  to  believe  that  forests  and 
land  animals  also  existed.  In  our  present  world,  every  well- 
defined  region  has  its  peculiar  plants  and  animals,  in  fact, 
a  little  creation  by  itself.  That  a  similar  disposition  existed 
in  former  times  has  not  been  disproved,  and  several  facts 
lead  to  such  an  inference.  The  great  quadrupeds  of  the 
Paris  tertiary  basin  are  distinct  from  those  of  the  tertiary 
beds  of  India,  and  even  in  the  secondary  strata,  and  among 
the  more  widely-diffused  sea  mollusca,  the  chalk  of  Sussex 
and  Kent  yields  a  different  set  of  fossils  from  what  we  find 
in  the  same  formation  on  the  banks  of  the  Tagus.  The 
number  of  plants  at  present  living  on  the  earth's  surface 
may  be  estimated  at  about  one  hundred  thousand,  and  that  of 


94  GEOLOGY     IN    RELATION    TO 

where  it  is  not  merely  assumed  to  serve  an 
end,  is  more  a  thing  of  impression  than  of  argu- 
ment, and  results  from  the  power  which  things 
seen  wield  over  our  feeble   nature.     "What  we 

animals  at  double  the  amount.  Assuming  that  the  ancient 
epochs  of  the  history  of  our  globe  were  analogous,  in  as 
far  as  general  laws  are  concerned,  to  our  present  world,  we 
may  now  form  some  idea  of  the  extent  and  richness  of 
creative  power  which  this  retrospective  history  displays. 
Such  inductions  give  us  a  magnificent  idea  of  the  succes- 
sions of  organised  bodies  during  the  immense  series  of 
ages  which  are  included  in  our  geological  chronology,  but 
they  are  by  no  means  necessary  to  establish  the  fact  of  re- 
peated creations.  The  simple  inspection  of  any  sufficiently 
complete  and  accurate  list  of  the  organic  fossils  found  in 
the  different  formations,  affords  ample  evidence  for  all 
purposes  of  inference  and  argument,  always  bearing  in 
mind  that  the  evidence  is  above  all  doubt,  and  that  no  fu- 
ture progress  in  our  knowledge  can  assail  it,  any  more  than 
improvements  in  botany  and  zoology  can  ever  change  the 
great  facts  we  know  respecting  the  geographical  distribu- 
tion of  our  present  species. 

We  are  here  presented  with  two  orders  of  facts,  both  of 
them  well  ascertained,  and  both,  in  our  present  knowledge, 
difficult  of  solution.  We  have,  in  the  first  place,  the  extinc- 
tion of  multitudes  of  plants  and  animals,  and  that  not  once 
but  repeatedly  ;  and,  in  the  second  place,  we  have  repeated 
creations  of  new  races.  With  respect  to  the  extinction  of 
epccies,  the  case  admits  of  partial  explanation,  although  it 
is  doubtful  if  we  can  fully  solve  all  difficulties.  We  know 
th  it  among  other  geological  phenomena  the  interchange  of 
land  and  water  has  repeatedly  taken  place  ; — if  mountains 
are  elevated  in  one  place,  islands  and  continents  are  sub- 


NATURAL    RELIGION.  95 

habitually  behold,  and  never  fiud  altered,  be- 
comes so  stable  in  our  apprehensions,  that  we 
begin  to  ascribe  to  it  a  necessary  and  self-ex- 
plained existence.     AVe  feel  as  if  there  were  an 

merged  in  others ;  and  such  revolutions  must  necessarily 
be  attended   by  the  destruction  of  many  species.     As    all 
such   changes    must    be   accompanied    by   corresponding 
changes  in  local  climates,  this  effect  may  reach  animals  in- 
habiting regions  remote  from   the  site  of  actual  change. 
Any  shallowing  of  the  sea  between  Carolina  and  the  Baha- 
mas, by   deflecting  the  current  of  tepid  water,   called  the 
gulf-stream,  would   render  the  west  coast  of  Greenland  an 
uninhabitable  region  of  perpetual  ice.     Although  such  con- 
siderations will  do  much  in  accounting  for  the  extinction 
of  animals  and  plants,   more  especially  of  terrestrial  ones, 
there  is  another  order  of  facts  which  at  present  appear  in- 
explicable.     The   climates  of  great   part  of    Europe  and 
Northern  Asia,  when  inhabited  by  elephants,  hippopotami, 
and   the  rhinoceros,  were  much  colder  than  at  present,  and 
the  extinction  of  these  races  appears  to  have  been  synchro- 
nous with   an    amelioration    of    temperature.     But   a   far 
greater  difficulty  remains.     These  extinct  animals  had  for 
their  companions  species  which  still  subsist :— the  remains 
of  the  musk-ox,  the  urus,  and  the  red-deer  are  found  in  the 
same  position  as  those  of  the  elephant  and  rhinoceros  ;  and 
we  cannot  tell  how  one  kind  of  animals  was  extirpated, 
while  another  was   permitted  to  survive.     The  same  diffi- 
culty oc  :urs  in  the  tertiary  shell-fish.     Descending  from  the 
older  to  the  newer  periods,  we  find  that  the  proportion  of 
extinct  species  diminishes,  while  the  per  c  ntage  of  exist- 
ing species  increases,  till  we  arrive  at  deposits  containing 
only  the  remains  of  living  sped  s. 

When  we  examine  the  other  fact,  as  to  the  appearance  of 


90  GEOLOGY    IN    RELATION"    TO 

absurdity  in  supposing  it  not  to  be,  or  to  be  other- 
wise. What  should  the  ocean  do  but  lash  its  wont- 
ed shore,  and  stun  the  ear  by  its  eternal  roarings  ? 
Why    should    the    river    forsake    its    banks  by 


a  new  species,  suggestions  of  a  far  different  complexion 
arise.  Do  we  know  of  any  secondary  causes  or  powers  of 
nature  whose  co-operation  could  produce  a  single  species — 
not  to  say  an  elephant  or  a  tiger,  but  even  an  infusorial  ani- 
malcule? We  have  elsewhere  commented  on  the  doctrine 
of  the  transmutation  of  species,  and  on  the  present  occasion 
have  only  to  speak  of  their  origin.  Here  we  have  but  two 
alternatives  before  us,  either  to  admit  the  hypothesis  of 
spontaneous  generation,  or  a  direct  interference  of  creative 
power.  With  respect  to  equivocal  generation  in  its  full 
sense,  and  as  held  by  Lucretius  and  Epicurus,  we  believe  it 
is  entertained  by  no  naturalist  of  the  present  day  ;  even  La 
Marck,  while  maintaining  that  the  simpler  plants  and  ani- 
mals originated  in  this  way,  repudiates  its  possibility  in  the 
case  of  higher  organisations.  The  usual  doctrine  is  to 
maintain  the  spontaneous  production  of  the  simpler  orga- 
nised bodies,  and  then  deduce  the  higher,  by  a  process  of 
development  and  transmutation  of  species.  As  regards  the 
evidences  of  spontaneous  production,  its  advocates  have 
not  produced  a  single  direct  fact — nothing  but  negative  and 
indirect  reasoning  has  been  brought  forward.  From  the  pub- 
lications of  Redi,  in  the  seventeenth  century,  down  to  those 
of  Ehrenberg,  the  domain  of  spontaneous  generation  has  been 
gradually  narrowed,  so  that  the  hypothesis,  if  by  no  means 
abandoned,  has  been  rendered  untenable.  The  chief  argu- 
ments in  favour  of  the  idea  were  derived  from  the  history  of 
infusorial  microscopic  animalcules,  and  from  the  difficulty  of 
explaining  the  dissemination  of  entozoa  in  the  cavities  and 


NATURAL    RELIGION.  97 

which  it  has  been  sheltered  and  kept  in  its  course 
from  time  immemorial  1  Where  should  the 
mountain  stand  but  where  parent,  and  child,  and 
children's  children,  have  beheld  it  through  un- 

solid  organs  of  animals.  Infusorial  animalcules  were  held 
by  La  Marck  to  he  animals  of  extreme  simplicity;  in  short, 
mere  globules  of  animated  mucus  formed  from  decaying 
matters.  In  confutation  of  this  notion,  we  may  quote  the 
beautiful  researches  of  Ehrenberg,  who  has  shown  that. 
this  supposed  raw  material  of  animals  constitutes  beings 
of  a  highly  complicated  structure,  possessing  a  stomach, 
muscles,  and,  in  some  cases,  even  eyes,  and  hence  far  from 
being  the  simplest  of  animal  structures.  With  respect  to 
the  parasitic  worms  occupying  the  bodies  of  animals,  we 
have  the  decisive  fact  that  they  possess  organs  of  reproduc- 
tion and  give  rise  to  abundance  of  ova  ;  so  that  whatever 
difficulty  we  may  have  in  tracing  their  history,  there  is  none 
in  accounting  for  their  origin,  on  the  same  principle  as  that 
of  other  animals. 

Vital  power  is  different  from  every  other  force  which  we 
perceive  in  nature,  and  has  nothing  in  common  with  gravi- 
tation or  chemical  action.  It  is  manifested  in  a  certain 
class  of  beings,  and  is  only  transmitted  by  generation.  We 
know  of  no  power  or  comhination  of  powers  in  nature 
which  can  produce  a  new  kind  of  plant  or  animal.  Mere  vi- 
tality can  no  more  give  origin  to  a  new  species,  than  gravi- 
tation can  create  a  planet.  We  must  ascend  beyond  secon- 
dary causes,  and  must  admit  a  direct  interposition  of  divine 
power,  wherever  a  new  species  has  appeared  upon  our 
globe.  The  result  is  surprising,  and  is  one  to  which 
no  other  research  has  conducted  us  ;  and  thus  geology  opens 
a  new  chapter  in  the  book  of  creation  more  wonderful  than 
any  we  had  previously  studied.  Special  acts  of  providence,  as 
G 


98  GEOLOGY    IN    RELATION*    TO 

Lumbered  generations  ?  -  Since  our  fathers  fell 
asleep,  all  things  continue  as  they  were,'  and  we 
are  beguiled  into  the  notion  that  so  great  con- 
stancy is  tantamount  to  necessity. 

But  geology  dissipates  this  illusion.  It  teaches 
us  that  though  the  face  of  the  earth  may  seem  to 
us  unvarying,  it  is  neither  unchangeable  nor 
unchanged.  That  which  is  necessarily  is  im- 
mutably. But  the  world  has  been  the  subject 
of  vast  mutations,  and  unless  we  ascribe  crea- 
tive energy  to  the  elements,  and  so  constitute 
them  divinities,  and  in  denying  the  existence  of 
one  God,  fabricate  to  ourselves  a  whole  system  of 
Polytheism,  we  must  acknowledge  that  these 
changes    have  had  a  producing    and    presiding 

well  as  general  laws,  that  is,  the  steady  purposes  of  wisdom, 
are  part  of  the  pl:in  on  which  the  universe  is  governed. 
If  we  are  thus  assured,  that  in  thousands  of  instances, 
during  the  vast  period  which  has  elapsed  since  the  first 
creation  of  living  beings  on  this  earth,  interpositions  of 
divine  power,  out  of  the  ordinary  course  of  nature,  have 
taken  place,  surely  every  a  priori  objection  is  removed 
to  the  probability  of,  interpositions  of  the  same  power 
for  moral  ends,  and  for  revealing  to  man  what  it  was 
infinitely  more  important  he  should  know,  than  merely 
biological  results,  his  own  real  nature,  his  relation  to  the 
Creator  of  all  things,  and  the  means  of  securing  the  divine 
favour.  S. 


NATURAL    RELIGION.  99 

cause,  and  that  races  have  been  suppressed  and 
replaced,  and  each  order  of  being  adapted  to  its 
proper  situation  and  temperature  by  one  who 
was  before  all  things,  and  by  whom  all  things 
consist — who  killeth  and  maketh  alive,  and  is 
so  mighty  in  his  acts,  that  none  may  stay  his 
hand,  or    say  unto    him,  What   doest   thou  1 


hume's  argument  against  miracles. 

The  successive  creations  to  which  geology 
bears  witness  completely  explode  Hume's  objec- 
tion against  miracles,  that  they  are  incredible, 
because  opposed  to  experience.  A  new  creation 
is  not  provided  for  by  the  laws  of  nature,  in  so 
far  as  we  have  observed  their  operation.  If  a 
negation  is  to  be  accounted  opposition,  the  fact 
is  opposed  to  all  our  personal  experience,  and 
even  to  all  human  experience.  We  have  not 
here  the  experience  of  a  single  witness  to  plead 
as  an  exception.  Yet  the  proof  that  new  races 
have  been  created  is  ample  and  irrefragable ; 
and  we  have  thus  a  striking  example  how  little 
a  priori  arguments  against  miracles  avail  when 


100       GEOLOGY  IN  RELATION  TO 

opposed    to    substantial    facts    and    reasonable 
inferences.* 


*  Hume  maintained  that  in  all  the  successions  of  phenom- 
ena which  we  observe,  either  in  the  world  without  us,  or 
in  our  own  minds,  we  are  merely  cognisant  of  antecedents 
and  consequents,  and  have  not,  nor  can  obtain,  any  proper 
notion  or  belief  of  an  active  and  efficient  cause.  He  ad- 
mitted no  other  idea  of  order  in  the  course  of  nature  than 
what  experience  suggests  to  us,  and  what,  when  often  re- 
peated, produces  that  notion  of  causality  which  consists  of 
habit  and  expectation.  In  accordance  with  this  hypothesis, 
he  adroitly  observes,  that  as  the  universe  is  a  single  effect, 
and  thus  the  result  of  a  single  antecedent,  we  cannot  from 
this  solitary  instance  infer  chat  it  had  a  creator.  A  single 
pair  of  events,  consisting  of  an  antecedent  and  a  consequent, 
can  produce  no  belief,  form  no  habit,  and  induce  no  expec- 
tation ;  thus  a  single  creation  will  afford  no  idea  of  a  cre- 
ator. 

Without  entering  upon  the  region  of  metaphysics,  a  geol- 
ogist may  be  permitted  to  make  some  observations  on  the 
correctness  of  Hume's  argument,  that  the  world  is  a  single 
effect,  a  solitary  and  unique  phenomenon.  If  by  the  world 
we  understand  the  universe,  the  aggregate  of  all  created 
things,  it  is  not  necessary  to  quit  our  earth  to  ascertain  that 
the  world  is  not  a  singular  effect.  Though  the  universe,  in 
all  its  vastness,  be  the  work  of  a  single  creator,  it  also  ex- 
hibits many  limited  creations,  subordinate  and  distinct  in 
themselves,  but  still  under  the  same  general  conditions.  If 
we  look  to  our  existing  creations  of  plants  and  animals,  we 
shall  find  that  our  earth  is  far  from  being  a  singular  effect. 
On  the  contrary,  we  find  a  multiplicity  of  effects,  display- 
ing creative  power  and  wisdom.  The  animal  and  vegeta- 
ble productions  of  Australia  and  America  are  very  peculiar, 
being  confined  to  their  respective  regions,  and  found  no- 
where else.     Let  us  suppose  a  Ouirani  Indian  of  Brazil, 


NATURAL    RELIGION.  101 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  HYPOTHESIS. 

Much  speculation  has  been  created  of  late  by 
what  is  called  the  development  hypothesis.  As 
put  forth  bjr  the  author  of  the  '  Vestiges  of  Crea- 
tion,' it  finds  the  original  of  all  things  in  fire  mist. 

and  a  native  of  New  Holland,  to  have  elaborated,  in  the 
solitudes  of  their  respective  forests,  the  Humean  doc- 
trine of  causation,  and  inferred,  fiom  their  respective  fields 
of  observation,  that  thd  creation  was  a  solitary  and  singular 
effect.  If  our  two  sceptics  were  to  change  countries,  they 
would  be  introduced  to  scenes  where  not  a  plant  or  an  ani- 
mal would  be  known  to  them.  The  idea  of  the  world  being 
a  singular  effect  would  give  place  to  a  very  different  con- 
clusion. Such  is  the  effect  which  the  contemplation  of  the 
various  provinces  of  the  vegetable  and  animal  Kingdoms 
would  produce.  We  see  in  Australia  animals  organised  in 
a  peculiar  manner,  different  from  those  of  all  other  coun- 
tries—we find  not  singularity,  but  diversity — we  find  dis- 
tinct realms  of  creation. 

The  case  becomes  infinitely  more  striking  when,  from  the 
living  provinces  of  creaiion.  we  turn  to  the  periods  of  the  ex- 
tinct races.  Here,  in  as  far  as  the  vegetable  and  animal 
kingdoms  are  concerned,  we  cannot  with  any  propriety  of 
language  call  the  organic  world  a  singular  effect.  When 
contemplating  the  fossil  species,  we  can  look  back  to  a 
period  when  they  were  not— a  long  cycle  of  ages,  during 
which  they  lived  and  multij  lied— and  ultimately  an  epoch 
whi  n.  having  fulfilled  their  allotted  part,  they  ceased  to  ex- 
ist. It  is  also  to  be  remembered,  that  from  the  first  ascer- 
tained appearance  of  living  beings  on  our  earth,  down  to 
the  present  creation,  this  wonderful  revolution  has  happen- 
ed repeatedly.  S. 


102       GEOLOGY  IN  RELATION  TO 

The  igneous   particles    were    diffused   with  ex- 
treme rarity  throughout  space,  but  they  had  in 
them  the  principles  and  powers  of  matured  and 
replenished  worlds.     First  of  all.  they  rolled  to- 
gether to  make  suns  ;   the  masses  of  these  suns, 
in   the  course  of  contraction  and   condensation, 
threw  off  zones,  which  turned  into  globular  bodies 
and  became  planets.     As  improvement  proceed- 
ed, inorganic  matter,  imbued  with  electrical  and 
other  properties,   produced    organisation :    then 
simple  structures  developed   more  complex  and 
refined  structures,  and   so  progress  went   on   to 
perfection,  till  eventually  the  brute  developed  the 
man.   The  constituents  of  this  theory,  which  as- 
cribe a  nebular  origin  to  the  stellar  universe,  were 
the  conjectures  of  great  men,  though  they  have  lost 
all  their  plausibility  in  consequence  of  the  discov- 
eries made  by  Lord  Rosse's  telescope.     But  the 
dream  of  development  which  has  been  allied  with 
them  has  been  honoured  with  far  more  refutation 
and  notoriety  than  it  deserves.  At  present  I  will 
offer  a  few  observations  on  the  doctrine  of  devel- 
opment as  applied  to  species.     It  maintains  that 
in  the  course  of  ages  new  species  may  have  been 
produced,  according  to  a  natural  law.  as  well  as 


NATURAL    RELIGION.  103 

new  individuals  ;  the  transmutations,  it  is  alleged, 
may  have  been  nicely  graduated,  and  each  new 
species  may  have  differed  little  from  the  prior 
species  by  which  it  was  developed.  It  is  not 
permitted  us  to  charge  the  hypothesis  with  athe- 
ism, because  it  allows  that  there  may  be  a  God, 
and  contends  that  he  may  originally  have  im- 
pressed life  with  plasticity  and  adaptability,  so 
that  it  may  take  to  itself  new  forms  aud  charac- 
ters in  suitableness  to  varying  conditions  and 
circumstances. 

At  the  same  time,  there  is  nothing  to  be  gained 
by  supposing  these  metamorphoses  of  species  to 
have  happened,  unless  to  invalidate  the  scriptural 
history  of  our  race,  confound  the  origin  of  ra- 
tional and  irrational  beings,  shed  uncertainty  and 
perplexity  over  their  destination,  and  throw  back 
divine  intervention  so  far  into  the  past,  that,  to 
our  weak  conceptions,  it  is  virtually  annulled  in 
becoming  so  antiquated. 

The  hypothesis  is  besides  liable  to  positive  and 
insuperable  objections,  of  which  the  following 
may  be  stated  : — 

1.  The  fossils  contained  in  the  different  strata 
do  not   show  a  graduated    progress  from  more 


104       GEOLOGY  IN  RELATION  TO 

rudimentary  to  more  perfect  structures.  That 
there  has  been  no  such  progression  is  very  de- 
cisively shown  by  Mr.  Hugh  Miller  in  his  '  Foot- 
prints of  the  Creator.'  Others  have  incontro- 
vertibly  established  the  same  position.  Profes- 
sor Phillips,  as  quoted  in  the  8th  number  of  the 
North  British  Review,  says  : — ;  The  bivalve  mol- 
lusca  of  the  oldest  Snowdonian  rocks*  were  cer- 
tainly as  complicated,  nay,  more  highly  organised, 
than  the  greater  number  of  conchifera  of  the  pre- 
sent ocean,  since  they  belong  to  the  brachiopoda. 
The  Crustacea  of  the  Silurian  system. were  at  least 
as  curiously  organised  as  the  limuli  of  the  North 
American  coasts.  The  goniatites  of  the  moun- 
tain limestone,  are  far  more  curiously  constructed 
than  the  nautili,  which  lie  with  them,  and  also 
inhabit  western  oceans.  The  belemnites  and 
ammonites,  turrilites,  and  other  extinct  genera 
of  the  oolite  and  chalk,  reveal  to  us  an  extinct  or- 
der of  cephalopoda  larger,  more  powerful,  and 
more  curiously  organised,  than  existing  loligines 
and  sepioe.  It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  the  ichole 
notion  of  a  gradual  amelioration  or  enrichment  of 
the  animal  organisation  may  be  dismissed  as  a  mere 
*  The  lowest  fossiliferoua  rocks, 


NATURAL    RELIGION.  105 

illusion  of  the  fancy  of  a  finite  beings  ioho  vainly 
transfers  to  the  work  of  the  Almighty  the  pattern  of 
his  own  limited  labours? 

2.  There  are  constituents  in  the  structure  of 
animals  which  exclude  the  possibility  of  transi- 
tion upwards  or  downwards — which  do  not  allow 
of  the  supposition  that  they  produced  other  forms, 
or  were  produced  from  them.  The  great  Cuvier, 
in  a  passage  quoted  by  the  able  North  British  Re- 
viewer, says  : — '  No  deviation  in  the  ordinary  form 
of  this  animal  (the  cuttle-fish)  has  ever  produced 
or  can  constitute  a  being  placed  beneath  it :  nor 
can,  or  ever  will,  its  better  development  give  rise 
to  a  series  of  animals  of  a  more  perfect  species  to 
be  classed  immediately  above  it.'  The  letter  of 
a  friend  (Dr.  Scouler)  supplies  me  with  the 
following  illustration  : — '  In  some  cases  it  is 
difficult  to  imagine  the  possibility  of  transitions, 
even  when  the  species  are  so  closely  allied 
that  their  distinctions  can  with  difficulty  be 
expressed  either  by  words  or  the  pencil.  In 
such  instances,  where  structures  are  closely 
allied,  the  dispositions  and  instincts  may  diverge 
widely,  and  oppose  a  barrier  to  all  trans- 
mutations.      This   is   observed  in  thousands  of 


106       GEOLOGY  IN  RELATION  TO 

cases  in  the  insect  tribes  ;  but  I  shall  quote  a 
more  familiar  example.  The  hare  lives  above 
ground,  sheltering  among  brakes  and  bushes. 
The  young  of  this  timid  animal  are  enabled  to 
run  after  the  dam  immediately  after  birth.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  rabbit  excavates  a  subter- 
ranean abode,  where  it  brings  forth  its  }*oung, 
which  are  at  first  blind  and  helpless,  and  there 
nurses  them  until  they  have  strength.  The 
young  rabbit  becomes  an  individual  of  a  social 
establishment,  while  the  solitary  hare  seeks  pro- 
tection for  itself  alone  ;  and  between  these  alter- 
natives there  is  no  medium.' 

3.  The  nature  of  the  changes  supposed  does 
not  admit  that  they  should  in  general  be  diminu- 
tive. An  example  will  best  illustrate  and  esta- 
blish this  observation.  A  hand  or  foot  must  be 
one  or  other  of  these  organs  distinctively  ;  in 
other  words,  it  must  be  adapted  for  clasping  or 
walking.  To  change  the  one  of  these  into  the 
other  would  necessarily  be  a  great  metamor- 
phosis, and  there  is  no  conceivable  way  of  sub- 
dividing it  into  degrees.  Besides,  a  single  al- 
teration of  corporeal  structure  may  change  the 
general  conditions  of  life,   and    render   the   re- 


NATURAL    RELIGION.  107 

casting  of  a  whole  animal  indispensable  to  its 
preservation.  This  is  the  well-known  law  of 
the  correlation  of  organs,  Remove  the  probos- 
cis of  an  elephant,  and  how  many  other  altera- 
tions become  necessary  before  the  creature  can 
satisfy  its  hunger  and  thirst  ?* 

4.  The  objectionableness  of  the  hypothesis 
is  not  of  a  kind  to  be  diminished  in  being 
graduated.  Laws  of  nature  do  not  thin  out  like 
a  stratum  of  limited  extension  ;  and  the  laws  of 
life  are  just  as  truly  natural  laws  as  any  others 
which  are  so  called.  The  invariability  of 
species  is  ascertained  by  evidence  equally  dis- 
tinct and  decisive  as  the  property  of  gravitation. 
Show  us  that  two  stones  do  not  gravitate  towards 


*  Let  us  investigate  the  structure  of  the  elephant.  We 
find  in  most  birds  and  quadrupeds  that  the  length  of  the 
head  and  neck  together  is  equal  to  that  of  the  fore  legs,  and 
the  reason  for  this  is  so  obvious  as  scarcely  to  require  being 
specified.  In  the  elephant  this  is  not  the  case ;  the  fore 
limbs  are  much  longer  than  the  head  and  neck,  and  con- 
sequently the  a::imal  could  not  reach  the  ground  to  take  up 
its  food.  There  is  still  another  difficulty  in  this  instance  : 
the  long  tusks  of  the  elephant,  even  if  the  neck  were  of  the 
requisite  length,  would  effectually  hinder  him  from  laying 
hold  of  anything  by  his  tongue  or  lips.  Until,  therefore,  the 
proboscis  grew  and  became  developed  the  elephant  must  in 
the  meanwhile  have  starved.  S. 


103       GEOLOGY  IN  RELATION  TO 

each  other,  and  we  shall  believe  that  there  may 
be  mountains  or  planets  which  have  no  mutual 
attraction.  Show  us  that  one  new  species  has 
been  developed  from  other  species,  and  we  shall 
then  believe  that  any  animal  may  pass  into 
any  other  animal  ;  or  that  inanimate  things  may 
become  vital,  and  the  rocks  of  a  sea-coast  may 
produce,  as  the  conditions  shall  require,  whales 
or  elephants.  But  while  each  law  is  attested  by 
innumerable  proofs,  and  all  the  evidence  is  con- 
firmatory, without  exception,  we  must  believe 
both  in  the  property  of  gravitation,  and  in  the 
permanency  of  species,  and  iustead  of  vainly 
trying  to  explain  the  phenomena  of  either, 
by  the  agency  of  the  other,  allow  to  each  its 
proper  and  independent  operation.  To  no  pur- 
pose is  it  answered  that  some  races  confessedly 
undergo  modifications  in  new  positions  ;  for  these 
modifications  have  narrow  limits  which  they 
never  exceed,  and  cannot  be  made  to  exceed  ; 
and  circumstantial  variations  so  bounded,  dis- 
prove instead  of  establishing  the  indefinite  duc- 
tility and  transmutability  of  species.  '  The 
question  still  is  unresolved,  what  the  origin,  or 
whence  the  existence  of  our  present  races  1     Not 


NATURAL    RELIGION.  109 

by  spontaneous  generation,  we  are  taught  by 
natural  science5  in  one  of  its  most  authoritative 
lessons.  Not  as  we  know  from  another  of  its 
lessons,  by  the  transmutation  of  old  species  into 
new  ones.  Not  by  any  combination  that  we 
have  ever  observed  of  all  the  known  powers  and 
principles  in  creation — and  thus  are  we  enabled 
to  refer  those  things  in  nature  which  of  all  others 
have  most  exquisite  and  manifold  collocations — 
the  most  certainly  to  a  definite  origin,  the  most 
nearly  to  the  finger  of  a  Creator.'* 

5.  The  hypothesis,  under  all  its  aspects,  is 
rendered  incredible  and  absurd  by  the  recent 
creation  of  man.  Here  the  notion  of  gradation 
utterly  fails.  Between  other  races  and  the  hu- 
man race  we  see  no  approximation,  but  the 
widest  and  most  unrelieved  interval  presented 
to  us  in  nature.  It  is  impossible  to  make  out 
any  sliding  scale  by  which  the  interval  might 
have  been  filled  up  with  intermediate  beings  ; 
and  the  monuments  of  former  life  unite  with  the 
present  inhabitants  of  the  earth  in  demonstrating 
that  there  neither  are  nor  have  been  any  such 
connecting  orders.  The  ape  has  some  external 
*  Chalmers'  Nat.  Theol.,  b.  ii.,  ch.  3. 


110  GEOLOGY    IN    RELATION    TO 

similitude   to   man.   but  a  little   scrutiny  elicits 
numerous  and  impassable  contrasts.* 

*  Most  people  are  so  struck  with  the  general  resemblance 
of  the  external  features  between  man  and  the  Ourang- 
outang,  that  they  become  prepossessed  with  the  notion, 
that  the  differences  are  few  and  unimportant,  compared  with 
the  numerous  characters  they  possess  in  common.  No- 
thing, however,  can  be  more  mistaken  than  such  an  opinion, 
which  at  once  vanishes  before  a  detailed  comparison  of  the 
corresponding  organs  of  man  and  the  ape.  An  examination 
of  the  structure  of  the  foot  alone  will  afford  an  illustration 
of  discrepancies,  such  as  we  find  pervading  almost  every 
other  organ.  In  man  the  foot,  framed  for  sustaining  the 
whole  weight  of  the  body,  is  placed  at  right  angles  to  the  leg, 
and  forms  an  arch,  supported  by  the  heel-bone,  and  the  broad 
expansion  formed  by  the  scarcely  flexible  toes.  The  motion 
of  the  foot  at  the  ankle  is  limited,  being  merely  a  hinge 
motion,  and  not  at  all  rotary.  On  the  contrary,  the  foot  of 
the  ourang-outang  has  the  fingers  long  and  flexible,  and  the 
great  toe  changed  into  a  thumb  ;  or,  in  other  words,  the 
foot  is,  in  structure  and  function,  a  hand  for  grasping,  and 
not  a  foot  for  biped  progression.  In  accordance  with  this, 
the  ankle-joint  admits  of  great  liberty  of  motion,  admirably 
fitted  for  a  prehensile  organ,  but  forming  a  most  imperfect 
foot.  Hence  the  hinder  extremity  of  man  and  the  ape  are 
the  contradictories  of  each  other.  So  much  is  this  the  case, 
and  so  incapable  are  the  ape  tribe  of  anything  like  easy 
walking  when  erect  upon  their  hind  feet,  or  rather  hands, 
that  the  position  is  very  painful  to  thern.  If  we  look  at  an 
ape  making  the  attempt,  we  see  that  his  long  flexible  fingers 
are  an  inconvenience  ;  his  thumb,  or  great  toe,  is  of  no  ser- 
vice, and  is  laid  across  the  foot;  and  the  animal,  instead  of 
resting,  as  man  does,  on  the  sole  of  the  foot,  only  rests  on 
tne  outer  edge  of  a  half-closed  hand  ;  and,  further,  the  great 


NATURAL    RELIGION.  Ill 

There  is  this  consideration,  too,  which  should 
not   be    overlooked,     that   the   question    is   not 

freedom  of  motion  of  this  foot-hand  gives  the  animal  an 
unsteady  and  tottering  gait,  and  renders  walking  on  two 
feet  most  insecure.  In  short,  the  hinder  limb  of  the  ape  is 
not  made  for  walking,  but  for  climbing  trees;  and  it  is, 
therefore,  as  opposite  in  function  and  arrangement  of  parts 
as  can  well  be  imagined.  It  is  also  to  be  remembered  that 
a  foot-hand  is  eminently  a  brutal  conformation.  It  is  pos- 
sessed not  merely  by  the  monkeys,  but  by  many  climbing 
animals  very  low  in  the  scale,  such  as  some  of  the  squirrel 
tribe  and  opossums.  If  the  foot  of  the  ape  is,  so  to  speak, 
the  contradictory  of  the  human,  the  anterior  extremity  is 
equally  so.  No  animal  has  a  hand  comparable  to  that  of 
man,  which,  useless  for  progression,  is  such  a  perfect  in- 
strument for  prehension  that  we  use  the  term  manipulation 
as  equivalent  to  the  highest  degree  of  dexterity.  On  the 
contrary,  the  anterior  extremity  of  the  ape  has  a  very  mu- 
tilated thumb ;  and  the  American  monkeys  of  the  genus 
Ateles,  are  so  called  from  the  circumstance  that  the  thumb 
is  altogether  absent;  so  in  man  and  in  apes  the  anterior  ex- 
tremity stands  in  the  relation  not  of  resemblance,  but  of 
contrast.  To  follow  out  this  view  would  be  to  institute  al- 
most as  many  comparisons  as  there  are  organs  in  the  ape 
and  in  man,  and  we  shall  only  quote  another.  In  all  other 
animals,  the  skull  is  joined  to  the  first  of  the  vertebras  of 
the  neck  in  such  a  manner  as  fits  the  animal  for  quadruped 
motion  ;  and  the  ourang-outang  is  no  exception  to  this 
law.  On  the  other  hand,  in  man  the  skull  is  poised  upon 
the  top  of  the  erect  vertebral  column,  so  that  the  additioml 
weight  in  front,  caused  by  the  jaws  and  organs  of  sense,  is 
compensated  for  by  a  slight  effort  of  the  muscles  of  th3  back 
of  the  neck — and  hence  the  head  is  erect,  and  the  face  di- 
rected to  the  sky  ;  and  in  this  respect,  also,  there  is  no  re- 
semblance between  man  and  the  ape.    We  must  remember 


112  GEOLOGY    IN    RELATION    TO 

simply  one  of  new  forms,  as  the  hypothesis  is 
usually  expressed,  but  of  new  powers  :  and  not 
simply  of  physical  qualities,  but  of  mental  en- 
dowments. Suppose  that  the  body  of  a  lion  took 
to  itself  the  human  figure.  For  legs  we  have  now 
arms — for  claws  we  have  now  fingers — in  all 
respects,  we  may  have  a  perfect  human  body  ; 
but  man  is  not  body  alone.  When  we  have  got 
the  material  tenement,  we  have  still  to  account  for 
the  spirit  which  is  in  man,  and  we  still  need  the 
inspiration  of  the  Almighty  to  give  him  under- 
standing. Legs  have  passed  into  arms,  claws 
into  fingers,  but  what  has  passed  into  a  sense  of 
the  humorous  ?  What  into  a  perception  of 
beauty  and  sublimity  ?  What  into  that  power 
of  reflection,  by  which  thought,  after  nobly  seal- 
that,  strong  as  the  contrast  appears  between  the  different 
organs  of  man  and  the  ape,  taken  individually,  the  contrast 
appears  still  stronger  when  we  remember  that  these  differ- 
ences are  correlated,  and  that  the  one  involves  the  other.  In 
man,  the  articulation  of  the  head  to  the  spine,  the  breadth 
of  the  chest,  the  strong  muscles  of  the  loins,  the  calf  of  the 
leg,  and  the  arched  foot,  are  all  so  many  conditions  of  erect 
attitude  and  walking.  These  truths  are  so  obvious,  that 
they  have  been  adopted  by  modern  zoologists,  when  in  their 
systems  they  consider  man  not  only  a  distinct  species  from 
the  ourang,  but  place  him  also  in  a  distinct  genus  ;  and 
what  is  more,  this  genus  is  placed  alone,  and  by  itself,  in 
the  bimanou9  order.  S. 


NATURAL    RELIGION.  113 

ing  the  heavens,  turns  yet  more  nobly  inwards 
on  itself  i  Above  ail,  what  has  been  metamor- 
phosed into  conscience — into  that  faculty  which 
tells  us  of  right  and  wrong — of  a  law  and  a  judge 
— and  which  fills  us  with  hopes  and  fears  of 
rewards  and  punishments  ?  The  hypothesis  in 
qucstiou  becomes  more  and  more  inconceivable 
the  farther  we  pursue  it  into  its  details.  It  has 
been  already  shown  that  the  transformation 
imagined  has  not  been  and  could  not  be  gradually 
accomplished  ;  and  the  idea  of  its  sudden  accom- 
plishment is  not  less  evidently  preposterous. 
Suppose  an  ape  to  produce  a  child,  the  child 
would  die  in  the  charge  of  such  parentage. 
Dr.  Thomas  Keid,  the  metaphysician,  has  ob- 
served : — '  He  must,  in  my  apprehension,  have 
a  very  strange  complexion  of  understanding,  who 
can  survey  the  various  ways  in  which  the  young  of 
the  various  species  are  reared,  without  wonder, 
without  the  pious  admiration  of  that  manifold 
Wisdom,  which  hath  so  skilfully  fitted  means  to 
ends  in  such  an  infinite  variety  of  ways.  .  .  . 
How  common  is  it  to  see  a  young  woman,  in  the 
gayest  period  of  life,  who  has  spent  her  days  in 
mirth,  and  her  nights  iu  profound  sleep,  without 


114       GEOLOGY  IN  RELATION  TO 

solicitude  or  care,  all  at  once  transformed  into 
the  careful,  the  solicitous,  the  watchful  nurse  of 
her  dear  infant.  :  doing  nothing  1^  day  but 
gazing  upon  it,  and  serving  it  in  the  meanest 
offices  ;  by  night,  depriving  herself  of  sound  sleep 
for  months,  that  it  may  lie  safe  in  her  arms  ! 
Forgetful  of  herself,  her  whole  care  is  centred 
in  this  little  object.'* 

Would  an  ape  make  an  equally  safe  or  tender 
guardian  for  the  babe  ?  We  are  told  that  Oliver 
Cromwell,  in  his  infancy,  had  a  trial  of  this 
nursing.  A  huge  monkey  got  hold  of  him,  it  is 
said,  and  carried  him  to  the  roof  of  the  house, 
and  to  the  horror  of  the  spectators  who  looked 
for  his  speedy  fall  and  destruction,  there  fondled 
and  dandled  him  very  composedly.  This  re- 
markable adventure  has  been  generally  classed 
with  the  perils  of  Cromwell's  early  da}Ts,  and  the 
common  understanding  is,  that  if  the  experiment 
had  been  carried  a  little  farther,  he  would  have 
occupied  less  space  in  the  history  of  England. 
The  ape,  then,  instead  of  producing  an  infant, 
must  have  sprung  into  a  full-grown  man.  But  a 
man  alone  would  have  no  progeny ;  so  another 
*  '  On  the  Mind,'  essay  iii.,  chap.  iv. 


NATURAL    RELIGION.  115 

ape  or  it  may  be  a  goat,  according  to  the 
i  coLditions,'  must  have  very  opportunely  '  de- 
veloped' into  a  full-grown  woman !  And  on 
these  conclusions  we  are  thrown  by  pretenders 
to  philosoph}',  who  reject  revelation  ;  and  who  ill 
conceal  their  contempt  for  the  credulity  which 
assents  to  its  evidence  1 

The  foregoing  observations  show  how  little 
the  author  of  the  ;  Vestiges  of  Creation'  would 
gain,  even  if  he  could  prove,  as  he  certainly  can- 
not, that  there  has  been  a  regular  progress  to- 
wards perfection  of  organic  structure,  and  that 
the  more  perfect  organism  is  always  the  more 
recent.  The  question  of  progress  is  evidently 
distinguishable  from  that  of  production.  As  man 
is  the  last,  he  is  confessedly  the  greatest  work  of 
God.  But  we  have  seen  that  man  cannot  have 
been  produced  either  gradually  or  suddenly  by 
other  species  which  preceded  him.  He  at  least 
must  have  had  a  different,  and,  as  regards  prior 
tribes,  independent  origin.  This  is  a  demonstrable 
fact  ;  and  by  this  one  fact  the  necessity  of  divine 
intervention  is  fully  established,  and  the  ade- 
quacy of  the  development  hypothesis  to  account 
for  the  phenomena  is  utterly  exploded. 


116  GEOLOGY    IN    RELATION    TO 


II.    GEOLOGY  IN  RELATION  TO  THE  INORGANIC 
WORLD. 

The  remarks  which  I  am  now  about  to  offer  will 
have  respect  mainly  to  the  inorganic  world,  and 
any  reference  I  make  to  plants  and  animals  will 
be  of  an  incidental  and  cursory  description. 

The  earth  is  not  a  wild,  abandoned  to  neglect, 
or  controlled  by  casualties,  but  is  governed  on 
a  system,  in  which  the  several  agents  fulfil  each 
some  important  function,  and  co-operate  in  sus- 
taining a  collective  harmony.  In  other  words, 
we  occupy  an  abode  which  can  be  the  work 
only  of  a  mighty — of  a  divine  Architect ;  and 
which  teaches  us,  emphatically,  his  attributes  and 
our  obligations.  Let  us  first  notice  certain  bal- 
ancing agencies,  and  then  remark  on  particular 
substances  of  much  practical  interest. 

I. IGNEOUS  AND  AQUEOUS  AGENCIES, 

In  viewing  the  globe  comprehensively,  we  are 
specially  struck  by  the  vast  effects  of  Water  and 
of  Fire.  These  seem  to  be  rival  or  conflict- 
ing  powers,    and  yet,   with   all    their    apparent 


NATURAL    RELIGION.  117 

antagonism,  they  are,  in  reality,  accordant  and 
co-operative,  affording  a  remarkable  exemplifica- 
tion of  Dr.  Chalmers'  general  statement,  that 
'  forces  of  a  right  intensity  and  direction  have 
been  made  to  meet  together,  so  as  to  be  pro- 
ductive of  a  desirable  result.'*  They  invite  our 
attention  to  their  individual  and  reciprocal 
action. 

WATER. 

To  begin  with  the  first-named :  One  of  the 
mightiest  agents  in  nature  is  Water.  It  was  re- 
quired in  great  abundance,  and  most  amply  has 
it  been  provided.  Never  is  human  littleness  more 
evinced,  than  when  we  contrast  the  goodliest 
canals  and  reservoirs  of  enterprising  man,  with 
the  waters  of  the  great  deep — simultaneously 
lashing  so  many  shores,  and  encompassing  so 
many  kingdoms,  and,  we  may  say,  the  globe 
itself,  in  its  awful  universality.  More  than  two- 
thirds  of  the  surface  of  the  earth  are  covered  by 
the  ocean,  and  the  extent  of  dry  land  is  farther 
limited  by  rivers,  lakes,  ponds,  and  marshes. 

The  objection  may  be  started,  that  there  is 
*  Nat.  Theol.,  b.  i.,  ch.  3. 


118  GEOLOGY    IN    RELATION    TO 

too  much  sea.  But  an  acquaintance  with  facts, 
and  a  just  consideration  of  their  bearings,  teaches 
us  the  reverse.  ^Ye  need  not  complain  that  the 
sea  circumscribes  our  domains,  as  if  we  wanted 
room,  when  vast  regions,  quite  open  to  us,  are 
thinly  peopled,  and  there  remains  so  very 
much  land  to  be  possessed.  The  sea  yields 
those  exhalations  which  pass  into  dew  and  rain, 
and  irrigate  the  earth  ;  and  if  the  effect  be  not 
excessive,  we  should  not  ascribe  superabundance 
to  the  cause.  That  moisture  is  not  to  be  con- 
sidered superfluous  which,  flowing  off  from  the 
fields,  and  descending  into  fissures,  ravines,  and 
valleys,  becomes  springs  and  rivers,  impels 
machinery  and  introduces  shipping,  and  after 
adorning  many  a  landscape,  and  serving  count- 
less valuable  purposes,  mingles  anew  with  the 
waters  of  the  ocean.  It  is  a  wonderful  system 
on  which  we  are  thus  remarking.  The  blood 
of  animals  flows  in  containing  vessels  ;  so  does 
the  water,  made  artificially  to  supply  towns  ;  but 
elevated  by  no  forcing  pump,  the  vapour  rises 
from  the  sea,  and,  conducted  by  no  tubes,  it  per- 
forms its  vast  and  beneficent  circuit  with  in- 
fallible regularity.     The  sanguineous  circulation 


NATURAL    RELIGION.  119 

lasts  only  for  a  few  years  ;  this  aqueous  circula- 
tion is  maintained  without  decay  through  in- 
numerable ages. 

Nor  is  the  sea  a  blank  to  vitality — it  is  not  all 
dead  sea.  It  is  not  the  Typhon  of  the  Egyptians 
— a  name  which  denoted  with  them  the  persona- 
tion of  evil,  and  which  they  applied  censoriously 
to  the  sea,  as  being  in  their  apprehension  icovns 
arpvycTos.  a  barren  sea,  unproductive  of  vitality.* 
Even  the  salt  of  the  sea  was  an  abomination  to 
the  Egyptians  ;  and  hence,  perhaps,  to  '  sow  with 
salt'  became  a  symbol  of  devastation  in  the 
imagery  of  Eastern  writers.  The  sea  is  full  of 
life,  active  life,  varied  life.  Who  may  enumerate 
all  its  plants  and  animals  and  animalcules,  and 
tell  how  its  sands  and  rocks,  and  shallows  and 
profounds,  are  adapted  respectively  to  their  dif- 
ferent populations  ?  So  largely  are  the  vegetable 
and  animal  kingdoms  represented  in  the  sea,  as 
to  give  confirmation  to  a  saying  of  the  ancients, 
that '  whatever  exists  elsewhere  is  found  in  the  sea, 
and  that  the  sea  contains  things  found  nowhere 
else.'     Nor  is  it  a  negation  to  huniau  comfort.      It 

*  See  Analysis  of  Egyptian  Mythology,  by  J.  C.  Pilchard, 
M.  D.,  p.  79.     London,  1319. 


120       GEOLOGY  IN  RELATION  TO 

supplies  man  with  food.  The  finny  tribes  he 
has  neither  fed  nor  tended.  He  has  provided 
for  them  no  sustenance,  no  shelter,  no  guar- 
dian care.  And  yet,  in  the  absence  of  all  his 
attentions  and  culture,  they  are  supplied  to  him 
in  such  abundance  as  to  raise  the  question,  whe- 
ther, by  all  his  fisheries,  they  are  sensibly  dimi- 
nished. In  sustaining  his  ships,  the  sea  be- 
comes a  medium  of  communication  for  him 
between  the  ends  of  the  earth.  And  let  it  be 
remembered,  that  these  vessels  are  human 
abodes,  and  that  thousands  of  our  race,  or  hun- 
dreds of  thousands,  dwell  mostly  on  the  main. 
In  every  way,  then,  the  ocean  is  included  in 
the  habitable  globe. 

FIRE. 

Let  us  now  advert  to  the  other  agent,  Fire. 
The  ocean,  in  lashing  shores,  tends  to  wash 
them  away  ;  and  if  this  power  alone  operated, 
islands  and  continents  would  gradually  disap- 
pear. The  sea,  wearing  down  everything  into 
its  channel,  would  become  less  deep,  and  more 
extended,  till  all  would  be  surrounded  by  its 
ascendant  billows.     To  counteract  this  destruc- 


NATURAL    RELIGION,  121 

tion  there  must  be  a  compensating  reproduction  : 
and  the  reproducing  agent  is  Fire.  To  a  cer- 
tain extent,  the  sea  itself  compensates  for  its 
destructiveness,  by  covering  its  bed  with  new 
strata,  which  may  afterwards  be  elevated.  But 
although  this  agency  would  diminish  the  depth 
of  the  ocean,  it  would  never  cause  '  the  waters 
under  the  heaven  to  be  gathered  together  into 
one  place,  and  let  the  dry  land  appear.'  The 
power  of  upheaval  lies  in  heat.  The  bulk  of 
substances  is  greatly  affected  by  their  tempera- 
ture. In  general  they  expand  when  they  are 
warmed,  and  contract  when  they  are  cooled. 
In  this  way  the  elevation  and  subsidence  of  land 
may  be  accounted  for  by  the  increase  or  reduc- 
tion of  igneous  agency.  Subterranean  heat  com- 
ing into  contact  with  solid  rocks,  may  not  only 
enlarge  their  volume,  but  may  turn  them  into  a 
liquid  or  gaseous  state.  The  liquids  or  gases 
thus  formed  have  prodigious  elastic  energy,  and 
may  lift  up  strata  of  whatever  strength  and  thick- 
ness. The  upward  pressure  may  be  of  wide 
extent  ;  and  throughout  that  range  of  action  the 
conditions  may  be  so  nearly  equal,  that  large 
tracts  of  land  may  be  simultaneously  and  almost 


122       GEOLOGY  IN  RELATION  TO 

uniformly  elevated.  It  has  been  abundantly 
proved  that  parts  of  Sweden  and  other  countries 
are  exemplifying  such  elevation  at  the  present 
time.  Or  the  pressure  from  beneath  may  act 
on  a  limited  portion  of  the  overlying  strata  ;  but 
even  in  that  case  the  sides  of  the  mountain  rise 
with  its  uplifted  summit,  and  the  whole  of  a 
country  may  be  only  the  lower  and  gentler  de- 
clivity of  the  mountain  ridge.  Thus  the  internal 
heat  of  the  globe,  though  residing  in  profound 
and  inscrutable  mansions,  is  palpable  in  its  effects. 
"When  straitened  for  space,  it  forces  the  crust  of 
the  earth  to  yield  to  its  expansiveness,  and  the 
result  is  seen  in  all  that  rises  above  the  level  of 
the  sea.  Nor  is  this  all.  The  equipoise  estab- 
lished at  first  is  constantly  preserved,  so  far  at 
least  as  is  conducive  to  benevolent  designs.  The 
sea  is  ever  demolishing  what  it  assails,  and  mass 
after  mass  yields  to  its  denudations.  This  con- 
stant waste  a  volcanic  agency  as  constantly  re- 
pairs— ever  deepening  the  channel  of  the  ocean, 
and  thus  restricting  its  prevalence,  or  elevating 
the  ocean's  bed,  and  thus  raising  up  what  it 
strives  to  wash  down.  In  either  of  which  ways 
a  divine  Governor  still  breaks  up  for  the  deep 


FOSSIL      REMAINS. 


c»       o     c  c  <^5    <- 


The  Source  of  the  Volcano. 


The  extinct  Volcano  of  Auvergne  in  France. 


NATURAL    RELIGION.  123 

his  decreed  place,  and  sets  bars  and  doors,  and 
says,  l  Hitherto  shalt  thou  come,  but  no  further, 
and  here  shall  thy  proud  waves  be  stayed.' 

What  a  magnificent  equilibrium  is  presented 
in  these  conceptions  !  the  tide  of  the  ocean  is 
uncontrollable  by  us  ;  nor  is  the  insignificance  of 
man  ever  more  apparent  than  when  he  loses 
sight  of  land  for  weeks  and  mouths  together,  in 
crossing  the  aqueous  expanse,  especially  when  a 
tempest  overtakes  him,  and  his  frail  bark  drifts 
and  leaks,  and  seems  to  be  perishing  in  its  dimi- 
nutiveness  and  helplessness. 

'Now  shivering  o'er  the  topmost  wave  she  rides, 
While  deep  beneath  the  enormous  gulph  divides; 
Now  launching  headlong  down  the  horrid  vale, 
She  hears  no  more  the  roaring  of  the  gale, 
Till  up  the  dieadful  height  again  she  flies, 
Trembling  beneath  the  current  of  the  skies. 

Falco.v.  Shipw.,  Cant.  3. 

The  agitation  of  the  sea  is  equalled  in  its 
majesty  and  terrors  only  by  the  rockings  of  the 
earth,  when  hidden  fires  dissolve  restraining 
barriers,  and  burst  from  their  imprisonment. 
Who  can  be  composed  when  the  earth  is  moved, 
and  its  foundations  are  out  of  course  ?  Who 
may  stand  by  the  crater,  or  think  to   close  its 


124       GEOLOGY  IN  RELATION  TO 

lips  when  it  vents  its  fury — when  it  breathes 
flame  and  mutters  thunder?  Each  of  these 
awful  powers,  the  aqueous  and  the  igneous,  seems 
to  be  in  itself  illimitable.  But  there  is  a  God 
who  can  make  even  such  agencies  become  bounds 
to  one  another  :  who  can  poise  them  in  salutary 
proportion  and  counteraction,  and  reduce  all 
their  frightful  mastery  to  a  mutual  helpfulness, 
by  that  power  which  weighs  the  mountains  in 
scales,  and  the  hills  in  a  balance  ;  which  stretches 
out  the  north  over  the  empty  place,  and  hangeth 
the  earth  upon  nothing. 

II. CONSOLIDATION  AND  DISINTEGRATION. 

We  present  another  example  of  compensating 
processes  :  The  dr}^  land  is  partly  in  a  soft,  earthy 
state,  yielding  easily  to  pressure,  and  partly  hard 
and  stony,  resisting  the  separation  of  its  par- 
ticles. Both  these  conditions  of  it  are  manifestly 
required  and  serviceable.  If  the  matter  of  the 
globe  were  all  reduced  to  powder,  there  could  be 
no  arts — no  architecture.  A  stately  edifice  could 
not  be  built  of  mud.  If.  on  the  other  hand, 
the    entire    mass    of   the  globe  were    solidified 


NATURAL    RELIGION.  125 

and  obdurately  cohesive,  there  could  be  no  vege- 
tation. A  tender  plant  could  not  strike  its  roots 
into  marble  or  flint.  Here,  then,  are  changes 
which  need  to  be  effected,  each  in  its  peculiar 
manner,  and  which  require,  at  the  same  time, 
to  be  duly  proportioned  and  preserved  from 
excess.  Let  us  look  at  the  processes  separately, 
and  in  their  mutual  relation.  On  the  one  hand, 
loose  sand  or  mud  is  converted  into  firm  and 
steady  rock  ;  and  whether  this  be  effected  by  heat, 
or  compression,  or  cement,  the  process  is  one  of 
law :  and  if  other  laws  that  work  well  and  gain 
their  end  bring  honour  to  the  lawgiver,  why 
should  God  only  be  denied  this  honouring  ac- 
knowledgment ?  But,  on  the  other  hand,  there 
must,  we  have  seen,  be  a  neutralising  process. 
That  the  material  of  this  globe  may  not  be  un- 
duly consolidated,  there  must  be  a  disintegrating 
agency  engaged.  Where  there  is  no  hammer 
and  no  human  hands  to  wield  it,  there  must  be 
other  influences  at  work  to  break  the  rock  in 
pieces.  Not  only  must  it  be  pulverised  ;  it  must 
be  coated  over  with  soil,  and  colonised,  if  I  may 
so  express  myself,  by  vegetable  and  animal  races, 
corresponding   with    its   position,    seasons,   and 


126  GEOLOGY    in:    relation    to 

temperature.  See  how  all  this  is  effected.  The 
bed  of  the  ocean  rises.  The  hidden  cavern  be- 
comes an  elevated  promontory.  Where  waves 
pursued  their  objectless  course  undisturbed,  their 
progress  is  now  arrested  by  an  upheaved  mass, 
it  may  be  of  mica-schist,  or  trap-rock,  or  lime- 
stone. The  billows  throw  themselves  on  the 
obstruction,  dash  themselves  into  breakers,  and 
strew  the  beach  with  foam,  as  if  furious  at  the 
interruption  to  their  long-established  ascendancy  ; 
while  the  emerged  rock  is  dark  and  gloomy,  as 
if  it  still  frowned  on  the  ocean  which  had  so  long 
obscured  its  greatness  and  contemned  its  dignity. 
Now  that  this  mineral  mass  has  escaped  from 
the  waters,  and  exposed  itself  to  the  day,  what 
purpose  does  it  serve — can  it  serve,  in  the  ma- 
terial creation  ?  On  all  its  rugged  surface 
there  is  no  mould  ;  perhaps  not  so  much  sand 
that  the  finger  might  write  in  it  the  word 
Hope.  But  let  that  rude  and  naked  crag  be  re- 
visited after  centuries  have  elapsed,  and  what 
appears  now?  An  Elysian  field— an  island 
for  the  blessed.  The  pastures  are  clothed  with 
flocks.  The  valleys  also  are  covered  over  with 
corn,  they  shout  for  joy,  they  also  sing. 


NATURAL    RELIGION.  127 

Who  has  done  this  ?  Man  ?  No.  The  abode 
has  been  prepared  for  him,  but  not  by  him.  From 
the  moment  that  the  rock  emerged  from  the 
ocean,  a  varied  instrumentality  was  applied  to 
bring  it  into  culture.  The  oxygen  of  the  air,  in 
allying  itself  with  certain  mineral  ingredients, 
detached  them  from  others,  and  broke  up  the 
wall  of  adamant.  The  fowls  of  the  air  were 
efficient  husbandmen  in  carrying  seed  and 
manuring  the  soil ;  and  even  the  earth-worm, 
which  we  seldom  mention  but  in  scorn,  per- 
formed its  unacknowledged  service  in  detaching 
loose  particles  from  underlying  stones,  and  bring- 
ing them  to  the  surface,  where  their  presence  was 
available.  Was  each  of  these  agencies  accidental  1 
Above  all,  was  their  harmonious  co-operation  a 
thing  of  chance  ?  A  glorious  divinity  must  this 
chance  be,  and  strong  must  be  the  faith  of  him 
who  credits  its  marvels  !  Such  a  believer  has 
little  pretext  for  ridiculing  credulity.  They  may 
seek  consolation,  who  think  they  can  find  it  in 
such  marvellous  peradventures ;  among  the  trees 
of  that  garden  I  will  rather  recognise  the  voice 
of  God,  I  will  hear  it  in  the  rustling  of  the  leaves, 
and  the  warbling  of  the  birds  ;   and  knowing  that 


128       GEOLOGY  IN  RELATION  TO 

the  sin  of  the  first  Adam  has  been  expiated  by 
the  sacrifice  of  the  second  Adam.  I  will  not  shun 
but  welcome  the  divine  presence,  and  reckon 
the  charms  of  nature  infinitely  more  charming, 
when  I  can  say  in  the  language  of  the  pious 
Cowper,  '  My  Father  made  them  all.'* 

After  these  examples  of  balancing  agencies, 
I  invite  attention  to  particular  substances  of  great 
importance ;  of  these  I  will  instance  Coal,  Lime, 
and  Metals. 

I.    COAL. 

The  history  of  Coal  is  a  subject  of  great  interest. 
We  all  know  its  value  for  economical  purposes, 

*  Another  very  beautiful  example  of  compensation  is  de- 
rived from  the  relations  of  the  animal  and  vegetable  king- 
doms to  the  atmosphere.  The  result  of  all  changes  of  com- 
position in  animal  bodies,  is  to  deteriorate  the  atmosphere, 
and*  to  render  it  unfit  for  supporting  the  life  of  sentient  be- 
ings. Animals,  by  respiration,  are  continually  throwing 
carbonic  acid  into  the  atmosphere,  and  indeed  the  final  de- 
composition of  the  body  after  death,  tends  still  further  to 
load  the  air  with  unhealthy  azotised  matters.  The  purity  of 
air,  however,  is  maintained  by  the  counteracting  influence 
of  the  vegetable  kingdom.  Plants  eagerly  absorb  the  azotised 
matters,  as  ammonias,  which  afford  them  nourishment,  and, 
above  all,  they  decompose  the  carbonic  acid,  assimulating  the 
carbon  to  their  organs,  and  restoring  the  pure  oxygen  to  the 
atmosphere  again,  fitted  for  the  respiration  of  animals.— S. 


FOSSIL      REMAINS 


Cyclas  Revoluta. 


NATURAL    RELIGION.  129 

and  we  can  scarcely  fail  to  recognise  intention  in 
its  utility.  But  consider  at  what  periods,  and 
in  what  manner  fuel  was  thus  prepared  for  us. 
The  vegetable  origin  of  coal  is  now  universally 
admitted ;  but  vegetables  might  have  been  so 
constituted,  that  after  living  their  day,  they  should 
have  been  resolved  into  their  elements  and  utterly 
dissipated.  Generally  speaking,  they  do  pass 
into  a  state  of  decomposition,  serviceable  to 
manure  and  soil,  but  not  to  ignition.  We  need- 
ed however  to  have  combustible  material  for  our 
fires  and  furnaces,  and  marvellous  indeed  is  the 
manner  in  which  it  has  been  prepared  and 
preserved  for  us.  Amid  the  strata  of  the  earth 
we  find  seams  of  coal  of  such  number  and 
dimensions,  that  with  all  the  immense  waste  of 
it  now  daily  in  progress,  there  is  no  fear  of  its 
being  exhausted  for  centuries  to  come.  And 
how  came  it  there  ?  It  forms  the  remains  of 
plants  of  which  no  species  are  now  living.  We 
can  easily  suppose  that  the  steps  have  been  very 
different  by  which  it  has  passed  from  its  verdant 
to  its  present  mineral  condition.  In  some  in- 
stances, descending  streams  which  flow  no  more 
carried  down  the  drift  wood  which  was  gradually 
i 


130       GEOLOGY  IN  RELATION  TO 

accumulated  in  lakes  or  estuaries.  In  other 
cases  large  forests  must  have  been  submerged 
where  they  grew.  Accumulating  vegetable  mat- 
ter for  many  a  year  and  many  an  age.  they 
enjoyed  profound  and  secure  solitude  ;  animals, 
of  which  we  may  have  no  traces,  lodged  amon'g 
their  branches  and  foliage,  and  exemplified 
the  habits  characteristic  of  their  different  natures, 
through  many  successive  generations.  The  sea 
slumbered  afar  off ;  its  broad  expanse  was  pro- 
bably far  out  of  sight,  and  the  noise  of  its 
breakers  still  farther  out  of  hearing.  At  length 
terrestrial  revolutions  supervened,  and  disturbed 
the  quiet ;  agitated  by  volcanic  heavings.  the 
earth  rose  and  sunk  ;  the  ocean  displaced  by  the 
elevation  of  its  channel,  invaded  the  dry  land, 
till  the  goodly  trees  were  covered  like  sea-weed 
by  its  overflowing  waters,  and  were  ultimately 
bent,  and  crushed,  and  buried,  by  accumulating 
sediment.  Or  a  powerful  and  violent  torrent 
swept  the  forest  from  its  place,  uplifted  it  root 
and  branch,  and  hurried  it  along  with  its  own 
tumultuous  swellings,  till  on  the  far  off  sea  it 
became  heavy  with  imbibed  water,  and  sunk  to 
be  embedded  in  the  fathomless  abysses.     On  any 


FOSSIL     REMAINS. 


&*^S§4 


The  Ancient  Tree  Ferns. 


NATURAL    RELIGION.  131 

of  these  suppositions,  how  utterly  lost  would 
have  appeared  to  us  the  deluged  arborescence  ! 
But  a  hand  not  seen  fashioned  its  repository 
— stored  it  up  there  in  impregnable  keeping — 
subjected  it  to  influences  all  operative  for  good. 
And  now  in  these  last  days  the  deep  and  the 
earth  deliver  up  their  trust ;  and  we  enjoy  the 
numberless  benefits  of  well-fed  fires,  often  little 
considering  whence  their  aliment  has  been 
derived.* 


*  Although  no  fact  in  geology  is  better  established  than 
the  vegetable  origin  of  coal,  a  complete  theory,  including  an 
explanation  of  all  the  phenomena,  is  still  a  desideratum. 
This  arises  in  part  from  the  circumstance  that  coal-fields 
exhibit  considerable  diversity  in  the  nature  of  their  contents, 
and  the  mode  in  which  they  are  arranged.  Some  may  be 
accumulations  of  plants  transported  by  rivers,  and  ultimate- 
ly deposited  under  water,  either  fresh  or  marine;  or  the  per- 
fect preservation  of  the  delicate  parts  of  ferns  may  exclude 
the  idea  of  transportation,  and  lead  to  the  belief  that  the 
beds  of  mineral  fuel  were  slowly  accumulated  on  the  spot, 
from  the  long-continued  influence  of  vegetation.  But  we 
must  remember  that  the  accumulation  of  vegetable  matter 
on  dry  land,  or  in  shallow  water,  is  scarcely  possible  but  in 
cold  or  temperate  climates:  in  the  tropics,  the  process  of 
putrefaction,  and  the  voracity  of  myriads  of  insects,  will 
cause  the  trunk  of  the  stateliest  tree  to  disappear  almost  as 
rapidly  as  the  carcase  of  an  elephant. 

It  does  not  appear  necessary  to  account  for  the  materials 
of  the  coal-beds,  by  imagining  that  the  atmosphere  formerly 
contained  a  greater  proportion  of  carbonic  acid  than  it  does 


132  GEOLOGY    IN    RELATION    TO 


IT.  LIME. 

The  next  substance  I  have  mentioned  as  being 
of  like  importance  with  coal,  is  Lime.  Besides 
many  lesser  utilities,  it  is  of  high  importance  for 
the  improvement  of  land,  and  may  be  pro- 
nounced indispensable  to  the  beauty  and  stabil- 
ity of  our  houses.  Though  found  in  mountain 
masses  it  has  been  ascertained  to  result  princi- 
pally, if  not  exclusively,  from  comminuted  shells 
and  other  parts  of  animal  structure.  The  shell- 
fish is  empowered  by  its  constitution  to  secrete 
calcareous  matter  from  the  waters,  lacustrine  or 
marine,  in  which  it  lives,  and  therewith  to 
fashion  for  itself  its  protecting  envelope.  After 
serving  its  jmrposes  to  its  aquatic  occupant, 
this   covering  might   have  returned  to   its  for- 

at  present.  On  the  contrary,  besides  the  many  difficulties 
attending  the  supposition,  Liebig  has  shown  that  it  is  un- 
necessary, inasmuch  as  there  is  at  present  more  carbon  in 
our  atmosphere,  in  combination  with  oxygen,  than  exists 
in  all  the  coal-fields  of  the  world.  We  thus  see  that  our  fuel 
once  existed  in  a  gaseous  state,  and  that  it  had  its  origin  in 
the  atmosphere,  whence  it  was  separated  by  the  influence 
of  vegetation,  and  ultimately  submerged  and  preserved  under 
depositions  of  stratified  matter.  S. 


NATURAL    RELIGION.  133 

mer  condition ;  and  in  many  cases  it  does  come 
to  be  dissolved  and  held  in  solution  by  the  floods 
from  which  it  had  been  abstracted.*  There 
are  enough,  however,  of  these  exuviae  preserved 
for  economical  necessities.  The  cast-oiF  shells 
accumulate  ;  by  the  action  of  the  elements 
they    are   kneaded   into   limestone,   and   in   the 


*  Much  of  our  limestone  was  once  dissolved  in  the  waters, 
and  subsequently  separated  by  numerous  aquatic  animals, 
and  converted  into  the  solid  supporting  or  protecting  parts 
of  their  frame.  In  this  respect  there  is  a  close  analogy  be- 
tween the  formation  of  carbonaceous  and  calcareous  sub- 
stances. They  exist  in  solution  in  the  air  or  water,  and 
their  accumulation  in  stratified  masses  is  not,  as  is  the  case 
with  other  strata,  merely  an  inorganic  process,  but  vital  ac- 
tion is  as  essential  to  the  result  as  gravitation,  chemistry,  or 
the  transporting  power  of  water.  It  is,  in  this  point  of  view, 
interesting  to  trace  the  history  of  a  piece  of  crystalline 
limestone.  In  the  vicinity,  it  may  be,  of  some  trap  or 
granite  vein,  we  find  a  bit  of  marble,  containing  it  may  be, 
crystals  of  granite,  and  we  find  that  this  marble  is  a  con- 
tinuous portion  of  a  stratum  which,  in  other  places,  abounds 
in  shells  and  corals.  With  these  data,  we  may  look  back 
to  a  period  when  the  calcareous  matter  which  existed  in 
the  ocean  was  afterwards  separated  by  shell-fish  and  zo- 
ophytes, and  converted  into  shells  and  corals.  After  this 
accumulation  of  calcareous  matter  was  formed,  it  was  acted 
on  by  heat  from  some  igneous  rocks;  the  mechanical  ag- 
gregation of  the  calcareous  particles  disappeared,  the  orga- 
nic forms  became  obliterated,  and  now  we  find  a  mass  of 
crystalline  limestone,  containing  simple  minerals  instead  of 
extinct  shells.  S. 


134       GEOLOGY  IN  RELATION  TO 

course  of  ages,  by  a  changed  distribution  of  sea 
and  land,  the  quarry  supplies  what  the  watery 
cavern  received.  Between  the  means  and  the 
end,  what  intervention  of  time  !  what  complexity 
of  operation !  what  revolutions  of  the  globe ! 
Who,  looking  on  the  mollusc  as  it  extracted  its 
testaceous  secretion  from  the  waters  of  the  deep, 
could  have  recognised  there  the  preparatory  stages 
of  human  architecture?  But  why  should  we 
marvel  at  the  connexion  when  all  is  of  God, 
and  known  unto  him  are  all  his  works,  from 
the  creation  of  the  world  ?     I  notice  finally, 


III.    METALS. 

Analogous  observations  are  applicable  to  them, 
It  needs  not  be  to  be  told  that  the  metals  are  the 
foundation  of  the  arts,  and  that  the  arts  are 
identified  with  civilised  life.  And  where  do  we 
find  commodities  so  precious  ?  They  are  found 
in  mineral  veins  filling  up  fissures  of  rocks. 
These  rocks  are  of  all  sorts — igneous  and 
aqueous — more  ancient  and  less  ancient.  The 
metals  themselves  are  met  with  in  great  varieties 
of  condition,    now   one    only   in   a   chink,   now 


NATURAL    RELIGION.  135 

several,  now  each  by  itself,  now  mingled  together ; 
here  diffused  through  stone,  there  constituting 
an  ore,  and  in  a  third  instance,  forming  detached 
lumps.  Great  difficulty  has  been  experienced 
in  accounting  for  the  phenomena  of  these  veins, 
as  neither  fire  nor  water,  the  two  great  agents  in 
nature,  possesses  powers  equal  to  the  results.* 
'  That  many  veins  (says  Dr.  Macculloch)  have  a 
double  origin  is  only  one  of  the  numerous 
difficulties  that  beset  this  subject.'!  Of  late 
it  has  been    shown   in   a  very  decisive    manner 

*  The  origin  of  metalliferous  veins  is  perhaps  the  ob- 
scurest subject  of  geological  investigation.  We  do  not 
know  in  what  manner,  nor  by  what  agency,  fissures  and 
cavities  in  rocks  have  been  filled  up  by  mineral  substances. 
Besides  admiring  the  great  variety  of  chemical  compounds, 
and  rich  display  of  geometrical  forms  and  groups  of  simple 
minerals,  we  have  to  acknowledge  that  a  still  more  difficult 
inquiry  remains  behind.  The  proportions  of  gold,  tellurium, 
and  many  other  metals,  is  infinitely  minute  when  compared 
with  the  earth's  crust ;  and  the  tendency  of  the  geological 
changes,  since  the  deposition  of  the  primary  strata,  must 
have  been  to  disseminate  such  metallic  substances  so  com- 
pletely as  to  render  them  imperceptible  even  to  the  tests  of 
the  chemist.  So  far,  however,  is  this  from  being  the  case, 
that  by  some  not  understood  means,  these  rare  metals,  so 
sparingly  supplied,  are  found  aggregated  in  certain  localities 
where  they  may  be  detected  by  commercial  enterprise  or 
scientific  curiosity.  S. 

t  Geology,  vol.  i.,  ch.  xix. 


136       GEOLOGY  IN  RELATION  TO 

by  Becquerel,  that  electrical  action  can  produce 
such  effects.  The  experiments  of  Fox  indicate 
the  same  truth.  Without  entering  into  the 
controversies  which  have  been  agitated  on  the 
subject,  or  attempting  to  clear  up  its  remaining 
mysteries,  these  facts,  I  may  state  on  the  authority 
of  eminent  geologists,  as  now  well  established : 
First,  the  rocks  had  originally  no  such  veins. 
Second,  the  cavities  in  which  the  metals  collect 
were  caused  by  disturbance  and  dislocation ; 
and  here  we  have  another  of  the  many  benefits 
attending  on  those  convulsions  of  nature,  which 
appear  so  formidable.  Third,  the  metals  were 
separated  from  the  general  mass  of  the  rocks, 
and  deposited  in  the  chinks  provided  for  them. 
by  very  slow  and  imperfectly  understood  pro- 
cesses. What  a  laboratory  then  was  here  !  what 
multiplicity  and  immensity  of  chemical  opera- 
tions !  To  outward  view,  the  mountain  would 
have  seemed  a  slumbering  and  inert  heap  of 
matter,  when  all  of  it  was  passing  from  its 
pinnacles  to  its  foundations,  from  its  surface  to 
its  centre,  through  busy  transformations.  The 
infiltrated  water  was  permeating  every  pore ; 
so  were  the   gases  which   that  water   absorbed. 


NATURAL    RELIGION.  137 

while  the  electric  stream,  flowing  with  ceas 
constancy  and  resistless  power,  impressed  its 
influence  upon  all ;  and  thus  were  the  metallic 
particles  disengaged  from  their  earthy  alliances, 
and  conducted  through  their  narrow  and  secret 
passages,  to  their  appointed  store-chamber.  And 
now,  when  enlightened  industry  lays  that  cham- 
ber open  to  the  light,  the  miner  has  little  to  do 
but  gather  up  the  metallic  treasures  prepared  to 
his  hand  ! 

If  benevolent  design  appears  in  the  formation 
of  coal,  and  lime,  and  the  metals  individually,  the 
illustration  becomes  cumulative  when  we  view 
them  in  conjunction.  Coal  was  prepared  in  one 
way:  limestone  in  another:  metals  in  a  mode 
different  from  both.  But  after  pursuing  paths 
most  unconnected  and  dissimilar,  they  meet  in 
serving  man.  They  are  often  found  in  the 
same  neighbourhood,  and  there  the  furnace  of 
coal  is  to  be  seen  smelting  the  ferruginous  shale 
that  lined  it,  while  the  lime  acts  as  a  flux  in 
reducing  the  iron  ore  to  a  metallic  condition. 


138       GEOLOGY  IN  RELATION  TO 

THE  PROOF  IS  INFINITE. 

I   am  greatly   tempted   to  multiply  examples 
and  illustrations,    for  every  department  of  crea- 
tion would  furnish  them.     '  Ask  now  the  beasts, 
and    they,  shall    teach  thee ;    and    the  fowls    of 
the  air,    and    they  shall    tell    thee.       Or   speak 
to  the  earth,  and  it  shall  teach  thee  ;    and  the 
fishes  of  the  sea  shall  declare  unto  thee.       Who 
knoweth  not  in  all   these  that  the  hand  of  the 
Lord   hath  wrought  this  ?     With  him  is  wisdom 
and  strength,  he  hath  counsel  and  understanding.' 
Dr.   Chalmers    has    said,    with    his  usual   elo- 
quence, '  For  doing  aught   like  adequate  justice 
to  the  theme,  we  should  go  piece-meal   over   the 
face  of  this  vast  and  voluminous  creation :    and 
show  how  in  the  exquisite  textures  of  every  leaf 
and  every  hair,  and    every  membrane,    Nature 
throughout    all    her    recesses    was    instinct  with 
contrivance,  and   in   the  minute  as  well  as   the 
magnificent  announced  herself  the  workmanship 
of  a  master's  hand ;  and  this  sets  forth  the  sis:- 
nificancy    of  that    scriptural     expression,     "  the 
manifold  wisdom  of  God."     It  is  to  us  intermi- 
nable.    When  told  that  we  might  expatiate  for 


NATURAL    RELIGION.  139 

weeks  together  o'n  the  habitudes  and  economy 
of  a  single  insect,  we  may  guess  how  arduous 
the  enterprise  would  be,  to  traverse  the  whole 
length  and  breadth  of  a  land,  so  profusely  over- 
spread and  so  densely  peopled  with  the  tokens 
of  a  planning  and  presiding  Deity.  It  would  be 
to  trace  the  footsteps  of  a  Being,  who,  while  he 
wields  with  giant  strength  the  orbs  of  immensity, 
pencils  every  flower  upon  earth  and  hangs  a 
thousand  dew-drops  around  it — at  one  time 
walking  in  greatness  among  the  wonders  of  the 
firmament,  and  at  another,  or  rather  at  the  same 
time,  scattering  beauty  of  all  sorts  in  countless 
hues  and  inimitable  touches  around  our  lowly 
dwelling-places.  He  hath  indeed  lighted  up 
most  gloriously  the  canopy  that  is  over  our 
heads — he  hath  shed  unbounded  grace  and  dec- 
oration on  the  terrestrial  platform  beneath  us. 
Yet  these  are  only  parts  of  his  ways— for  the 
whole  of  his  productiveness  and  power  who  can 
comprehend?  This  will  be  the  occupation  of 
eternity — amid  that  diversity  of  operations  at 
present  so  baffling,  to  scan  the  counsels  of  the 
God  who  worketh  all  in  all.'* 

*  Nat.  Theol.,  B.  II.,  c.  3. 


140      GEOLOGY  IN  RELATION  TO 

On  other  subjects  we  may  fall  in  with 
proof,  here  we  cannot  escape  from  it.  Embark 
in  the  swift  ship,  and  mark  retiring  head- 
lands till  the  last  peak  disappear,  and  sea  on  all 
sides  begirts  the  horizon,  we  still  behold  the 
wonders  of  God  in  the  great  deep.  Or  retire 
to  the  wilderness — an  ocean  of  sand  relieved 
by  no  gallant  ships  :  pass  into  depths  of  its 
solitude  where  no  caravan  travels,  where  no 
savage  roams,  where  no  beast  of  prey  even  dis- 
turbs the  silence  by  its  howlings,  or  the  level  by 
its  footmark,  still  the  desert  heath,  which  knoweth 
not  when  good  cometh,  will  invite  attention  to 
its  structure — will  attest  by  its  humours  and  ves- 
sels, its  root  and  stalk,  and  leaves,  and  flowers, 
that  God  hath  so  clothed  it :  and  will  put  it  to  the 
verdict  of  intelligence  and  candour,  whether  any 
Solomon,  in  all  his  glory,  was  ever  arrayed  like 
one  of  these.  Or  if  vegetation  fail,  if  no  blade  of 
grass  surmount  the  arid  waste,  take  up  a  grain 
of  sand  and  note  its  revelations.  It  is  composed 
of  different  elements  chemically  combined.  It 
partakes  with  the  earth  in  its  rotations  and  revo- 
lutions. It  contributes  its  due  proportion  to  that 
gravitating  power  which  gives  figure  to  the  globe, 


NATURAL    RELIGION.  Hi 

and  weight  and  stability  to  all  things  on  its  sur- 
face. And  when  we  ponder  these  and  such  like 
properties,  we  shall  find  that  particle  of  matter 
becoming  eloquent  on  morals,  and  all  explicit  and 
profound  on  the  perfections  of  God,  vindicating 
its  own  place  in  the  averment,  i  the  whole  earth  is 
full  of  his  riches.'* 

God  has  witnesses  in  all  epochs  as  well  as  in 
all  objects.  If  the  present  were  silent,  the  past 
would  speak.  The  ichthyosaur  would  start  from 
its  lias,  and  the  asterolepis  from  its  bed  of  sand- 


*  Although  nothing  may  appear  less  likely  to  excite  cu- 
riosity, or  to  convey  information,  than  a  particle  of  sand 
scarcely  perceptible  to  the  eye,  to  the  cultivated  mind  it 
suggests  a  long  train  of  relations  and  harmonies.  The  mode 
in  which  its  facettes  reflect  light  enables  us  to  ascertain 
the  crystalline  form  of  the  mineral  to  which  it  belonged.  But 
the  train  of  thoughts  does  not  end  here  :  each  crystalline 
form  refracts  the  luminous  ray  in  its  own  peculiar  manner, 
hence  the  crystalline  form  gives  the  refractive  characters, 
and  this  again  gives  the  formula  of  its  chemical  composition. 
To  select  an  example :  jf  the  grain  of  matter  be  calcareous 
spar,  we  discover  its  crystalline  form  to  be  a  rhomboid,  and 
this  form  of  crystal  possesses  the  power  of  double  refraction, 
and  again  these  two  conditions  involve  a  certain  chemical 
character  as  belonging  to  carbonates  of  certain  earths  and 
metals.  They  seem  to  be  correlative  characters,  and  the 
one  gives  the  other  somewhat,  as  the  teeth,  claws,  and 
stomach  cf  a  carnivorous  animal  are  linked  in  mutual  de- 
pendence. g> 


142  GEOLOGY    IN     RELATION    TO 

stone,    to    rebuke   atheistical    presumption    and 
claim  dutiful  homage  for  the  Ancient  of  Days. 

NO  GOOD  IS  TO  BE  EXPECTED  FROM  ATHEISM. 

And  why  should  unbelief  be  so  strenuously 
advocated  1  What  means  this  striving,  as  zealous 
as  fruitless,  to  expel  Grod  from  his  dominions  % 
Whence  springs  this  eagerness  of  puny  creatures 
to  annihilate  the  Creator,  and  undo  the  benefi- 
cence that  made  and  sustains  them,  as  if  by  denu- 
ding the  universe  of  an  architect  and  occupant 
men  could  serve  themselves  heirs  to  the  inappro- 
priated  inheritance  ?  Suppose  atheism  esta- 
blished, what  is  it  to  do  for  us  1 

Promote  morality?  If  so,  it  would  perform  a 
goodly  service.  Every  careful  observer  must 
have  remarked  what  an  ascendant  influence  the 
moral  element  wields  in  the  lot  of  humanity. 
Visit  the  most  wretched  of  a  city  population,  and 
you  may  find  them  groaning  under  many  hard- 
ships, and  each  of  these  inflicting  its  own  suffer- 
ings ;  but  the  master  evil,  and  that  which  tran- 
scends, and  either  originates  or  aggravates  all  the 
rest,    is   delinquency.     They   might  arise    from 


NATURAL    RELIGION.  143 

their  degradation,  or  would  not  sink  so  far  in  its 
depths,  but  for  this  millstone  of  vice  which  they 
have  hung  with  their  own  hands  around  their 
own   necks.     We   may  do   much   for  them,  and 
all  of  us  are  bound  to  do  all  that  can  be  done  in 
their  behalf.     We  may  give  them  civil  privilege, 
we   may  give  them  personal  attire   and  bodily 
sustenance,  we  may  even  instate  them  in  honest 
and  gainful  occupations  ;  but  if  we  succeed  not 
in  severing  the  manacles  of  immoral  habits,  we 
fail    to    rescue    the    object    of  our    compassion. 
We  leave  the  prisoner  where  we  found   him,  in 
his  cell  and  in  his   chains,  and  what  is   worse, 
we  see   the  ransom   we  have  tendered   for   his 
rescue  perverted    to  the  aggravation  and  perpe- 
tuity of  his  bondage.     I  am  uttering  no  opinion 
on  any  proposed  measures  of  amelioration.     If 
they  are  submitted  to  us,  let  them  be  examined 
by   us,  and,    if  they  are   enlightened,  let   them 
be    adopted.      But    what    I    say  is,    that    well- 
doing is  essential  to  well-being,  and  that  while 
a  moral  transformation  is  not  effected,  all  other 
amendments  will  be   as  the  drop  in  the  bucket, 
and  the  small  dust  in   the   balance,  against  the 
crushing  preponderance   of  a    degenerate    con- 


144 


GEOLOGY    IN    RELATION    TO 


duct.  Were  it  so.  then,  that  atheism  favoured 
morality,  the  effect  would  say  much  for  the  cause. 
But  how  can  it  possess  any  such  tendency  ? 
Doctrine  is  the  tree  of  which  morality  is  the 
fruit,  and  if  the  tree  be  cut  down,  the  fruit  per- 
ishes. When  the  being  of  God  is  denied,  all 
that  we  owe  to  God  is  simultaneously  annulled. 
To  love  him  for  his  excellences,  to  thank  him 
for  his  bounties,  to  study  conformity  to  his  will, 
to  rest  on  his  sympathy  amid  sorrows,  and  on  his 
succour  amid  perils,  all  this  class  of  duties  evanish 
with  the  God  to  whom  they  relate.  If  the  word 
Morality  retain  any  meaning  at  all,  it  can,  then, 
be  referable  only  to  fellow-creatures.  But  even 
as  respects  them,  the  most  of  duty  is  unreal  if 
there  is  no  God.  It  is  no  part  of  duty  in  that 
case  to  teach  men  godliness,  to  set  them  a  pious 
example,  to  dissuade  them  from  profanity,  to 
further  their  progress  in  a  heavenward  journey, 
and  elevate  their  meetness  for  an  inheritance  of 
light.  The  whole  of  virtue  must  then  consist  in 
ministering  to  man's  temporal  advantage.  But 
when  the  weightier  matters  of  the  law  are  dis- 
carded, the  lesser  will  not  be  more  respected. 
In  being  left  alone,  they  will  be,  on  the  contrary, 


NATURAL    RELIGION.  145 

brought  into  jeopardy.     Love    to  God   secures 
love  to  man,  for  if  we  own  him   as  a  father,  we 
must  own  one  another  as  brethren.     Our  obliffa- 
tions   to   fellow-men,   in   addition   to  their  own 
force,  are  then    included   in  our  obligations  to 
God  ;  and,  what  is  of  very  great  importance  to 
be  observed,  the   most  subordinate  actions   are 
hence  invested  with  all  the  efficacy  of  the  high- 
est   motives.      If   we    displace    these    elevated 
sanctions,  if  we  consign  every  sublunary  trans- 
action to  its  own   slender   buttresses,  if  we   tell 
the  haughty  oppressor  that  no  voice  more  autho- 
ritative than  his  own  rebukes  his  cruelties,  or  the 
lurking  assassin  that  no  discernment  more  wake- 
ful than  that  of  his  wretched  victim  watches  his 
movements,  is  there  not  a  danger,  is  there  not  a 
fearful  certainty  that  even  the  residue  of  morals, 
so  feebly  protected,  must  yield  to  the  pressure  of 
temptation,  and    perish  in    the  same  gulf  with 
the  more  solemn  responsibilities  of  a  disrelished 
piety?     We   have   a  corroboration  of  all  these 
statements  in   the  Socialist  schemes  of  our  mo- 
dern   Atheists.     They  have    laid    the  axe    not 
more  at  the  root  of  religious  doctrine  than  of 
all  moral  order.     The  same  fell  blow  is  to  pros- 


146  GEOLOGY    IN    RELATION    TO 

trate  all  principles  of   godliness,    all  rights  of 
property,  all  conjugal  relationship.      And  all  that 
has  been  hitherto  recognised  as  distinguishing 
citizens   from   savages,   or  a   good  man   from   a 
knave,  is  to  be  replaced  by  the  Utopianism  of  the 
fool,  who  hath  said  in  his  heart,  There  is  no  God. 
What,  then,  is  atheism  to  do  for  us?      Secure 
us  liberty  ?  that  is  its  principal  pretence.     Re- 
ligion is  identified  with  priestcraft,  and  priestcraft 
with  intolerance,  and  all  are  enjoined  to  give  up 
with    their    faith    as    they  would  regain    their 
freedom.     I  am  not    to  disparage  liberty — the 
birthright  of  man — the  glory  of  a   nation — the 
end  of   government    itself:   distrusted    and  de- 
nounced, yet  always  innocent  and  kind  ;  blessing 
to  the  last  when  suffered   to  remain,  and  even 
when  banished   from   the  earth,  rising  into  the 
heavens  as  a  star  of  hope,  and  shedding  its  rays 
of  promise  on  the  island  of  the  exile,  the  dungeon 
of  the  prisoner,  and  the  fetters  of  the  slave.     I 
admire   Liberty  :    and  I   pity   the   mind  which, 
from  dread  of  its  abuses  or  hatred  of  its  equity, 
can  behold  with  jaundiced  eye  its  incorruptible 
attractions.     But  I  deny  the  affinity  of  liberty  to 
atheism.     If  men  do  not  serve  God,  they  will 


NATURAL    RELIGION.  14? 

not  be  without  a  superior,  for  sin  will  reign  in 
their  mortal  bodies,  and  they  will  obey  it  in  the 
lusts  thereof.     Nor  will  any  get  rid  of  all  wor- 
ship   by  banishing   a  pure   worship.      The   con- 
science will  have  a  creed  ;  if  denuded  of  religion, 
it  will  put  up  with  superstition,  and  the  chance 
is,  that  in  extirpating  piety  you  restore  paganism. 
Nor  will  atheism  guarantee  a  civil  liberty.     It 
promised  to  do  so  in  France  :    the   promise,  in- 
dorsed by  philosophy  and  adorned  by  eloquence, 
was  believed,  and  the  wished-for  sceptre  was  put 
into  its  hand.     But  its  reign  was  a  reign  of  ter- 
ror, its  history  was  a  chronicle  of  butcheries,  and 
it  perished  by  its  own  suicidal  violence,  amid  the 
loathing  and  horror  of  all  civilised  nations.     Or, 
if  any  object  to  foreign  examples,  go  back  to  the 
history  of  our  own  country.   Revert  to  the  strug- 
gles which  secured  that  measure  of  freedom  in 
the  exercise  of  which  we  complain  of  restrictions, 
and  claim  to  be  relieved.     Was  it  atheism  that 
won  for  us  these  rights  ?     The  chivalry  of  free- 
thinking  ?     No  ;     the    atheist    cannot    afford  to 
die.     He   has  nothing  to   serve  but   time  ;    and 
what,  then,  should  he  be  but  time-serving  ?  The 
victory  was  gained  by  those  who    entered    into 


148       GEOLOGY  IN  RELATION  TO 

the  conflict  provisioned  for  all  its  alternatives — 
to  whom  life  was  Christ,  and  death  was  gain. 
The  power  of  a  Christian  conscience  wielded  the 
sword  of  the  Spirit  against  the  swords  of  tyrants  ; 
and  that  ethereal  weapon  it  was  which  prospered 
the  patriots,  and  got  them  the  victory. 

What,  then,  is  atheism  to  do  for  men  ?  Make 
them  happy  %  Some  miseries  it  may  mitigate  for 
the  moment — benumbing  the  sense  of  guilt,  and 
the  fear  of  wrath.  It  may  serve  a  like  purpose 
as  the  stupefaction  of  inebriety  to  the  despairing 
mariner,  who  drinks  the  intoxicating  draught  and 
then  laughs  wildly  at  the  tempest,  and  falls  into 
deep  sleep  amid  the  bowlings  of  the  wind  and 
the  lashings  of,  the  waves,  to  awake  only  when 
i  the  proud  waters  have  gone  over  his  soul.' 
Atheism  may  for  the  present  qualify  wretched- 
ness ;  it  cannot  impart  felicity.  There  is  nothing 
in  its  negations  to  communicate  positive  bliss, 
and  all  who  would  find  joy  and  peace  must  seek 
them  in  believing.  The  favour  of  God — the  God 
and  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ — will  make 
any  man  happy,  truly,  perfectly,  permanently 
happy  ;  and  no  darkness  is  so  profound  as  not  to 
be  dissipated  by  the  light  of  God's  countenance. 


NATURAL    RELIGION.  149 


CONCLUSION. 

In    conclusion,  I  draw  two   practical  lessons 

from  Modern  Geology,  on  the  supposition  of  its 

conclusions  being  established: — 

(1.)   One  lesson  taught  us  by  Modern  Geology 

is  the  mutability  of  this  world.  I  do  not  speak 
of  its  laws,  which  are  strikingly  uniform,  but  of 
its  constituent  matter  as  moulded  by  their  oper- 
ation. We  have  seen  that  the  sea  aud  the  dry 
land  have  repeatedly  exchanged  places.  The 
scenes  we  now  traverse  were  once  the  channel  of 

the  ocean.  We  stand  where  the  coral  built  its 
reef,  or  the  sea  monster  sported.  Beside  us  are 
the  cliffs  which  the  tides  or  breakers  lashed,  re- 
cording, in  their  wasted  steeps,  the  severity  and 
protractedness  of  the  watery  siege  ;  while  under 
us  are  the  accumulated  remains  of  an  extinct 
aquatic  population.  The  fathomless  cavern  has 
become  the  sheltered  garden,  or  productive  val- 
ley, and  the  plough  turns  up  the  wonders  of  the 
deep.     Should  the  world  be  preserved  till  like 


150       GEOLOGY  IN  RELATION  TO 

changes  again  occur,  the  bed  of  the  present  sea 
■will  be  rich,  when  upheaved  and  exposed,  in  still 
more  interesting  revelations.  The  cleft  of  a 
rock  belonging  to  some  mountain  ridge,  or  the 
falling  bank  of  some  inland  river,  will  lay  bare 
the  wreck  of  our  gallant  ships.  It  would  be 
foolish  indeed  to  think  of  navies  lying*entire  and 
well-ordered  in  the  depths  of  the  sea,  as  when 
they  were  elevated  on  the  stocks,  or  congregated 
in  the  harbour.  Scarcely  has  a  bark  struck  and 
sunk  till  the  shore  is  strewed  with  its  tackling, 
timber,  and  cargo  ;  and  of  the  fated  crew  one  life- 
less corpse  is  cast  upon  the  beach,  a  second  is  en- 
wrapt  in  sea-weed,  to  decay  amid  its  foldings, 
and  a  third  is  promptly  devoured  by  predatory 
fishes.  But  many  a  damaged  vessel  has  gone 
down  in  still  water,  and  has  been  gradually  em- 
bedded in  its  sedimentary  deposit.  Even  where 
the  hulk  has  broken  up,  relics  of  its  freight  may 
be  preserved, — perhaps  attire,  perhaps  docu- 
ments fenced  by  affectionate  or  official  care  from 
aqueous  invasion.  And  what  shall  we  think  of 
languages  being  examined  which  subsist  only  in 
a  fossil  condition,  and  which,  if  they  can  be  de- 
ciphered, will  tell  of  sailing  from  one  country 


NATURAL    RELIGION.  151 

and  proceeding  to  another,  both  of  which  will 
have  ceased  to  be  countries,  and  long  since  pre- 
sented continuous  ocean  on  the  map  of  the  globe ! 
These  are,  no  doubt,  fancies,  and  they  may  be 
deemed  very  extravagant  ;  but  they  are  such  fan- 
cies as  must  be  realised,  if  what  has  occurred  al- 
ready and  repeatedly  occur  again.  They  suppose 
such  changes  as  have  already  happened,  such  as 
are  even  now  in  progress,  and  will  insure  these 
catastrophes,  if  changes  still  greater  do  not,  in 
the  meantime,  befall  our  planet,  and  cast  anew 
its  destinies.  It  is  true  that  though  the  world 
were  permanent,  its  permanency  would  little 
avail  us  when  we  must  shortly — very  shortly — 
forsake  its  scenes  for  ever  But  the  vanity  of 
the  creature  is  more  perceptible  to  our  dull  appre- 
hension when  exhibited  on  a  scale  so  vast ;  when 
the  solid  globe  is  seen  to  be  inscribed  with 
characters  of  change;  when  the  mightiest  con- 
tinents appear  as  temporary  elevations  of  the 
ocean's  channel,  and  the  boasted  kingdoms  of  the 
earth  present  no  boundary  which  the  shifting 
billows  have  not  fashioned,  and  may  not  again 
obliterate. 

(2.)  Modern  Geology  smiles  contempt  on  the 


152  GEOLOGY    IN*    RELATION    TO 

pride  of  antiquity.  If  the  world  be  understood 
to  have  existed  for  only  6.000  years,  the  annals 
of  a  family  may  seem  a  considerable  proportion 
of  the  entire  period  ;  and  the  noble  heir,  looking 
on  the  ruins  of  his  ancestorial  castle,  may  plume 
himself  on  a  family  consequence  filling  so  large 
a  space  in  the  earth's  history.  But  admit  the 
conclusions  of  modern  investigation,  and  the 
whole  time  of  man  is  utterly  lost  in  its  measure- 
less eras.  Our  vaunted  race  are  all  the  entrants 
of  yesterda}',  compared  with  many  of  the  ir- 
rational tribes  which  we  regard  with  contempt. 
And  the  oldest  palace  has  no  chronicles,  and 
seems  as  though  it  had  been  created  by  one 
breath,  to  be  demolished  by  the  next,  when  we 
contrast  its  revered  duration  with  that  of  the 
stones  of  which  it  is  composed,  and  the  sub- 
jacent strata  by  which  it  is  supported.  A  poor 
ground  for  elatedness  are  these  fractional  mea- 
surements of  the  past,  the  whole  sum  of  which 
has  only  to  be  estimated  by  the  age  of  material 
formations  or  fossil  reptiles,  in  order  to  assume 
infinitesimal  insignificance.  The  dignity  of  long 
duration  does  belong  to  man.  "We  must  seek  it, 
however,  not  in  the  past,  but  in  the  future,  in 


NATURAL    RELIGION.  153 

cultivating  meetness  for  a  glorious  immortality,  of 
which  the  treasures  shall  still  be  possessed,  and  the 
laurels  still  worn,  and  the  strains  still  celebrated, 
when  these  heavens  and  this  earth  shall  have 
passed  away,  and  no  place  is  found  for  them. 

I  have  thus  performed,  as  I  could,  a  service 
for  which    I  freely  acknowledge   myself  imper- 
fectly qualified.     Perhaps  I  should  have  let   it 
alone  ;  but  I  have  been  often  requested  to  state 
publicly  my  views  regarding  the  religious  ten- 
dencies of  geology  ;  and  I  have  an  impression  that 
the    members  of  our  churches  should  hear  the 
sentiments  of  their  ministers  on  all  subjects  which 
affect  the  interests  of  truth  and  godliness.     I  feel 
that  I  would  do  violence  to  my  convictions  of 
duty,  and  the  yearnings  of  an  affectionate  solici- 
tude, if  I  did  not  add  a  few  words  of  weightier 
consequence.      They  are  designed  more  especially 
for  that  most  interesting  section  of  society  who 
are  in  the  spring-time  of  life,  and  whose  opening 
powers,  with   all   their  vitality  and  promise,   are 
liable  to  be  suddenly  and  fatally  blasted.     I  may 
be  excused  if,  in  these  parting  sentences  to  them, 
I    exchange   indirect    statement    for   direct  ad- 


154       GEOLOGY  IN  RELATION  TO 

dress.  The  subject  I  have  been  discussing  is 
important,  but  is  not  the  most  important.  A 
knowledge  of  it  would  make  you  wise,  but  not 
unto  salvation.  The  writing  of  these  paragraphs 
has  been  interrupted  by  calls  to  visit  chambers  of 
sickness  and  beds  of  death  :  and  you  will  suffer 
me  so  far  to  associate  these  occupations  in  this 
appeal,  as  to  remind  }tou  that  the  hour  is  coming 
to  you  also,  in  which  you  will  require  truths 
more  cheering  than  either  science  or  literature 
affords,  to  sustain  your  courage,  and  warm  your 
hearts,  and  elevate  your  hopes,  and  replace  the 
fading  lights  of  this  retiring  world  by  the  pro- 
missory beams  of  an  immortal  glory.  I  do  not 
wish  to  intimidate  you.  You  have  great  means 
of  improvement — great  means  of  usefulness.  If 
you  only  dedicate  yourselves  to  God,  in  the 
gospel  of  his  Son,  I  dare  not  set  limits  to  the 
good  which  you  may  be  enabled  to  acquire  and 
to  accomplish.  But  dangers  surround  you — dan- 
gers of  opinion — dangers  of  practice — dangers  of 
which  the  power  is  annually  attested  in  the  many 
and  melancholy  wrecks  of  youthful  promise. 
And  nothing  but  the  truth  of  God,  received  in 
faith    and    steadfastly    maintained,    will    make 


NATURAL    RELIGION.  155 

you  superior  to  all  perils,  and  bring  you  to  a 
promised  and  glorious  destination.  '  And  may  the 
very  God  of  peace  sanctify  you  wholly ;  and  I 
pray  God  your  whole  spirit,  and  soul,  and  body, 
be  preserved  blameless  until  the  coming  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Faithful  is  he  that  calleth 
you,  who  also  will  do  it.' 


APPENDIX, 
i. 

OBJECTS  OF   GEOLOGICAL   SCIEXCE. 

No  one  has  given  a  clearer  and  more  philosophic 
exposition  of  the  nature  and  objects  of  geological 
science  than  Hutton  has  done  in  the  first  chapter 
of  his  Theory  of  the  Earth.  '  "We  perceive.'  he 
says,  '  a  fabric  erected  in  wisdom,  to  obtain  a 
purpose  worthy  of  the  power  that  is  apparent  in 
the  production  of  it.  The  globe  of  the  earth  is  a 
habitable  world,  and  on  its  fitness  for  this  pur- 
pose our  sense  of  the  wisdom  of  its  formation 
must  depend.  To  judge  of  this  point,  we  must 
keep  in  view,  not  only  the  end,  but  the  means 
also  by  which  that  end  is  obtained.  These  are, 
the  form  of  the  whole,  the  materials  of  which  it 
is  composed,  and  the  several  powers  which 
counteract  or  balance  one  another  in  procuring 
the  general  result.'  These  observations  contain 
a  very  sound  exposition  of  the  true  character  of 


OBJECTS    Of    GEOLOGICAL    SCIENCE.       167 

geological  pursuits,  and  only  require  some  ex- 
pansion and  illustration.  The  complex  science 
of  geology,  which  considers  the  adaptation  of  the 
earth  to  the  support  and  welfare  of  living  beings, 
consists  of  two  very  distinct  portions,  which  re- 
quire very  different  modes  of  investigation.  The 
first  department  of  geology  relates  to  the  inorganic 
part  of  our  earth,  as  fitted  for  being  the  abode  of 
plants  and  animals,  and  comprehends  not  merely 
the  history  of  the  mutations  of  the  solid  parts  of 
the  earth's  crust,  but  also  the  no  less  important 
topic  of  meteorology  or  climate,  and.  in  short,  of 
every  agent  which  may  influence  vital  pheno- 
mena. 

The  fitness  of  the  earth's  crust,  including  its 
atmospheric  ocean,  for  the  support  of  organic 
beings,  depends  not  on  its  quiescence,  but  on  its 
incessant  changes.  The  hard,  unclecomposed  rock 
cannot  afford  food  even  to  the  moss  or  lichen  ; 
an  atmosphere  of  absolute  dryness,  like  that  of 
the  African  Sahara,  or  of  a  temperature  perma- 
nently below  the  freezing  point,  is  scarcely  com- 
patible with  the  support  of  life.  Consequently, 
rocks  must  be  decomposed  and  comminuted 
to  afford  an  appropriate  soil:  temperature  and 
moisture  must  also  be  combined  in  due  propor- 
tion, that  physical  agents  may  act  beneficially  en 
organised  beings.  These  results  are  brought 
about    by    the    antagonism    of    various    forces. 


158  APPENDIX, 

The  chief  of  these  is  gravitation,  transposing 
loose  materials  to  lower  levels,  and  tending 
ultimately  to  reduce  the  earth  to  a  perfect 
spheroid,  in  which  all  the  solid  materials  would 
be  spread  over  the  channel  of  the  sea,  and  our 
globe  would  be  changed  into  a  solid  nucleus,  en- 
closed in  two  spheres  of  water  and  the  atmos- 
phere. The  action  of  gravitation  is  counteracted 
by  chemical  forces,  the  source  of  subterranean 
heat,  which  elevates  strata,  raising  them  beyond 
the  level  of  the  sea  to  form  islands,  and,  in  many 
cases,  propelling  them  high  into  the  aerial  ocean, 
producing  mountain  ranges,  the  sources  of  rivers 
and  fertile  soils,  and  also  giving  rise  to  a  diver- 
sity of  climates,  adapted  to  every  variety  of  con- 
stitution in  plants  and  animals. 

Parallel  with  these  unceasing  mutations  in  the 
inorganic  constituents  of  the  earth's  crust,  we 
find  corresponding  mutations  in  the  vegetable 
and  animal  kingdoms,  whose  history  constitutes 
the  second  division  of  geology.  If  our  ancient 
strata  were  merely  aggregates  of  transported 
materials  accumulated  under  water,  and  indu- 
rated by  pressure  and  the  action  of  subterraneous 
heat,  we  might  possibly  admit  the  doctrine  of  un- 
ceasing cycles  of  changes  without  trace  of  a  be- 
ginning or  prospect  of  an  end.  Even  if  organic 
remains  were  found  in  such  strata,  provided  they 
were  identical  in  species  with   those  at  present 


OBJECTS    OF    GEOLOGICAL    SCIENCE.        159 

existing,  such  a  conclusion  might  not  be  invali- 
dated ;  and  some  would  rather  infer  that  animals 
and  vegetables  were  everlasting,  with  the  earth 
they  inhabit.  This,  which  was  the  Aristotelian 
view,  has  been  completely  subverted  by  the  study 
of  the  organic  remains  which  occur  in  such  variety 
and  abundance  in  all,  except  the  oldest  stratified 
rocks.  The  careful  investigation  of  the  remains 
of  former  and  long-extinct  species  of  plants  and 
animals,  has  led  to  the  wonderful  but  incontro- 
vertible fact,  that  repeatedly  whole  races  and 
groups  of  beings  have  perished,  while  the  earth 
has  again  been  replenished  by  new  species.  To 
state  this  fact  in  all  its  evidence,  we  must  ascend 
from  the  consideration  of  species  to  that  of 
genera  and  families  of  animals,  and  illustrate 
the  subject  by  a  reference  to  the  geographical 
distribution  of  plants  and  animals  over  our  actual 
earth.  It  is  well  known  that  every  well-defined 
region  of  the  globe  has  its  own  peculiar  creation 
of  plants  and  animals,  which  exist  in  no  other 
division  of  the  earth's  surface.  Every  one 
knows  the  very  remarkable  character  of  New 
Holland  ;  by  far  the  greater  number  of  species 
of  plants  and  animals  of  that  vast  region  are 
found  in  no  other  country.  Not  only  are  the 
species  peculiar  to  Australia,  but  also  the  genera 
and  higher  divisions,  such  as  the  leafless  Acacias, 
etc.,  among  plants,  and  the  marsupial  animals, 


160  APPENDIX. 

such  as  the  kangaroo  and  wombat.  In  the  same 
manner,  the  sloths  and  armadilloes  are  confined 
to  the  warmer  parts  of  America.  Similar  remarks 
apply  to  Africa,  and  many  of  the  greater  islands 
of  the  Indian  Archipelago. 

If  we  pass  from  the  distribution  of  animals  and 
plants  according  to  space  in  the  different  regions 
of  the  present  earth,  to  the  distribution  of  or- 
ganic beings,  according  to  time,  as  preserved  in 
the  successive  strata  of  past  ages,  we  find  an 
analogous  condition.  As  many  regions  of  the 
earth,  such  as  Australia.  Madagascar,  and  South 
America,  may  be  considered  as  little  creations 
by  themselves,  each  forming,  as  it  were,  separate 
nations  of  the  organised  world,  in  like  manner, 
each  successive  geological  formation  has  its 
own  characteristic  groups  of  organic  fossils. 
Certain  groups,  as  trilobites,  orthoceras,  etc..  in- 
cluding many  genera  and  hundreds  of  species, 
are  found  only  in  the  older  fossiliferous  rocks 
and  every  species  belonging  to  them  ceased  to 
exist  soon  after  the  close  of  the  coal  formation. 
In  the  newer  secondary  strata,  we  find  new  kinds 
of  shell-fish  (molluscs),  such  as  ammonites  and 
belemnites,  which  did  not  exist  along  with  the 
above-mentioned  groups,  and  which  also  became 
in  turn  extinct  at  the  commencement  of  the 
tertiary  period.  This  second  division  of  geology, 
therefore,   is   merely   a   portion   of  botany  and 


UNITY,     ETC.,    OF    CREATION.  IGi 

zoology,  and  to  be  studied  in  conjunction  with 
existing  species,  and  may  be  called  biological 
geology,  forming  a  chapter  of  the  science  of 
biology,  which  has  for  its  object  the  investiga- 
tion of  vital  laws  in  the  most  comprehensive  ac- 
ceptation of  that  term. 


II. 


PROVISION  HAS  BEEN  MADE  IN  CREATION  FOR 
UNITY,  VARIETY,  AND  BEAUTY,  AS  WELL  AS 
UTILITY. 

The  proper  view  of  Geology,  or  the  natural 
history  of  the  earth,  is,  as  has  been  already  stated, 
to  consider  it  as  the  science  which  contemplates 
the  complicated  changes  of  inorganic  bodies,  as 
destined  to  produce  those  conditions  which  arc 
requisite  for  the  existence  of  living  beings.  In 
this  respect,  the  system  of  operations  at  present 
in  progress,  in  what  we  call  the  modern  period, 
is  merely  the  continuation  of  that  vast  scries  of 
mutations  which  reaches  back  to  the  deposition 
of  the  oldest  of  the  primary  strata.  Throughout 
this  wonderful  history  of  change,  whether  gradual 
or  sudden,  we  find,  amidst  all  the  rich  variety  of 
organic  beings  which  pass  before  us.  an  essential 

L 


102  APPENDIX. 

uniformity  amidst  endless  diversity  of  structure 
and  adaptation.  Strange  and  anomalous  as  many 
of  the  extinct  genera,  whether  of  plants  or  ani- 
mals, appear  to  us  when  compared  with  existing 
races,  they  were  still  parts  of  one  creation,  and 
possessed  the  same  essential  organs, — they  were 
vertebral  or  invertebral,  cold-blooded  or  warm- 
blooded. The  iehthyosaur,  with  the  head  of  a 
porpoise,  the  teeth  of  the  crocodile,  and  the  swim- 
ming feet  of  a  turtle,  was  as  essentially  a  reptile 
as  the  alligator  or  lizard  ;  and  although  its  soft 
parts  have  long  since  been  decomposed,  we  are 
still  as  certain  that  its  reproduction  was  oviparous, 
that  its  heart  had  not  more  than  three  cavities — 
and  consequently  that  it  was  cold-blooded — as  if 
we  had  the  living  animal  before  us.  This  system 
of  unity  in  variety  is  equally  apparent  when  we 
take  a  view  of  any  extensive  groups  of  animals  ; 
such,  for  example,  as  the  ruminants  and  the 
pachyderms.  In  the  former,  if  we  confine  our 
attention  to  the  species  disseminated  over  our 
present  earth,  we  find  a  tolerably  complete  series, 
with  few  abrupt  or  sudden  transitions  ;  from  the 
deer  on  the  one  extreme,  to  the  camel  on  the 
other,  we  have  many  intermediate  and  connecting 
species.  Among  the  pachyderms  of  the  present 
earth  the  case  is  very  different :  the  genera  stand 
boldly  out  and  widely  apart  from  each  other. 
We  have  the  elephant  with  his  five  hoofs  and 


An   Invertebrated  Animal. 


UNITY,    ETC.,    OF    CREATION.  1G3 

long  proboscis  ;  the  rhinoceros  and  hippopotamus 
with  their  ponderous  bodies  and  great  variety  in 
the  number  and  arrangement  of  their  teeth  ;  and 
lastly,  the  horse  tribe  walking  upon  members 
furnished  with  only  a  single  toe  to  each  foot.  It 
is  very  remarkable  that  the  pachyderms,  whose 
representatives  are  so  few  in  the  present  day, 
were  far  more  numerous  in  ancient  times ;  and 
their  remains  are  found  in  great  abundance,  both 
in  tertiary  and  post-tertiary  deposits.  What  is 
still  more  remarkable  is.  that  when  we  class  to- 
gether the  recent  and  fossil  genera,  we  construct 
a  series  as  complete  as  that  of  the  modern  rumi- 
nants. All  the  voids  between  the  genera  of  our 
present  pachyderms  can  be  filled  up  from  the 
rich  store  of  relics  preserved  in  the  strata  In 
this  manner,  not  only  has  the  series  of  pachy- 
derms been  almost  completed,  but  the  interval 
which  separates  them  from  the  ruminants,  has 
been  greatly  abridged.  To  quote  an  example, 
the  camel  is,  of  all  the  living  ruminants,  the 
most  peculiar.  Unlike  its  congeners,  but  re- 
sembling the  pachyderms,  it  has  incisor  and 
canine  teeth  to  the  upper  and  lower  jaws,  and 
instead  of  cloven  lioofs,  has  a  single  or  united 
one.  like  the  pachyderms.  This  structure  of  the 
camel  is  best  illustrated,  not  by  any  living  ani- 
mal, but  by  going  back  to  a  pachyderm  whose 
remains  are    found    in   the    gypsum  quarries  of 


164 


APPENDIX 


Paris.  This  curious  animal,  the  anoplotheriuttl, 
had  its  teeth  arranged  on  a  plan  very  similar  to 
that  of  the  camel :  but,  on  the  other  hand,  it  had 
cloven  hoofs  like  the  ruminants :  so  that  in  the 
two  genera  which  we  have  selected,  the  characters 
of  ruminant  and  pachyderm  seem  to  be  blended 
together,  although  the  last  anoplotherium  had 
ceased  to  exist  myriads  of  years  before  the  camel 
was  created,  or,  indeed,  before  the  arid  deserts 
which  it  inhabits  had  emerged  from  under  the 
ocean. 

In  these  and  numberless  examples  we  find 
unity  of  plan  under  great  diversity  of  execution, 
pervading  alike  all  past  and  present  creations ; 
and  to  go  still  farther,  we  find  the  same  end  often 
accomplished  by  very  opposite  means.  While 
every  animal  must  be  adapted  to  the  conditions 
under  which  it  lives,  it  is  by  no  means  necessary 
that  the  same  arrangement  of  structure  should  be 
invariably  adopted.  The  giraffe  feeds  on  leaves 
by  the  aid  of  his  tall  limbs  and  long  neck  ;  while 
the  elephant  accomplishes  the  same  end  by  his 
elongated  nose  converted  into  a  prehensile  organ. 
In  some  opossums  the  young  are  carried  about 
in  the  pouch  of  the  mother :  in  other  species  the 
pouch  does  not  exist,  and  the  young  fix  them- 
selves to  the  back  of  the  parent  by  means  of  their 
long  prehensile  tails.  In  like  manner,  in  the 
vegetable  kingdom,  the  common  butchers-broom 


UNITY,    ETC.,    OF    CREATION.  165 

has  no  leaves,  but  the  branches  become  flattened 
and  expanded,  so  as  to  assume  the  form  and  ful- 
fil the  function  of  leaves. 

Following  out  these  views  throughout  the  wide 
range  of  extinct  and  living  species,  we  find  that, 
with  adaptation,  design,  and  general  laws,  there 
is  also  choice  and  unbounded  selection  of  means. 
The  plan  of  creation  is  not  one  of  parsimony  and 
mere  utility  alone :  it  comprehends  not  the  being 
only,  but  the  wellbeing  and  the  beauty  of  the  uni- 
verse. This  is  equally  apparent,  whether  we  con- 
sider the  inhabitants  of  the  primeval  seas  and  lands, 
or  the  plants  and  animals  of  our  present  world. 
Although  the  organisation  of  living  bodies  must 
have  certain  necessary  relations  to  external  na- 
ture— that  is,  to  temperature,  moisture,  and  food 
— still  this  is  only  a  part  of  their  nature,  and  by 
no  means  comprehends  their  whole  history. 
Thus  the  squirrel  and  perroquet  of  the  tropical 
forests  are  both  fitted,  by  their  constitution,  for  a 
high  temperature — both  are  climbers,  and  con- 
sume the  same  food,  and  perform  the  same  duty 
of  keeping  the  members  of  the  vegetable  popula- 
tion within  due  bounds ;  and  how  differently  is 
the  end  accomplished  in  the  two  instances  quoted  ? 
We  allude  to  this  circumstance  as  one  upon 
which  a  great  deal  of  the  beauty  and  variety  of 
the  world  depends,  and  which  enables  us  to  bake 
far  j uster  and  more  comprehensive  views  of  crea- 


1G6 


APPENDIX. 


tion   than  are  usually  entertained.      From    this 
principle  of  accomplishing  the  same  means   by  a 
diversity  of  ends,  we  deduce  all  the  vast  diversity 
of  genera  and   species  which  are  to  be  found  in 
different   regions   and   in  strata  of  various  ages. 
The  intertropical  regions  of  the  three  continents, 
for  example,  and    the  great  islands  of  the  Indian 
Archipelago,  are,  in  as  far  as  climate  and    inor- 
ganic nature  are  concerned,  remarkably  similar  ; 
but   in  living  nature   this  uniformity  vanishes — 
each  region  is  ornamented  by  its  peculiar  vege- 
tation, and  animated  by  its  characteristic  races. 
It  is  only  requisite  to  take  a  general  view  of  the 
distribution  of  organised  bodies  to  see  how  much 
of  contrast  and  variety  exists  in  different  regions. 
In    Southern    Africa,   we    find    a   wilderness  of 
heaths,     astonishing     from    their    numbers    and 
variety  of  species.     On  the  other  hand,  not  a 
single  heath  is  found  on  the  American  continent, 
while  the  uncouth  forms  and  beautiful  flowers  of 
the  cactus  everywhere  meet  the  eye  ;  and  again  in 
Australia  we   find    the  epacrids  are  substituted 
for  the  heaths,  which  they  so  closely  resemble 
in  general  appearance.     This  grouping  of  certain 
forms  of  vegetation  gives  an  individuality  to  the 
different   regions   of  the   earth.     The  forests  of 
New  Holland   exhibit  a  weary  uniformity  to  the 
eye   of  the   European.     The  leaves  of  the  trees 
are  vertical,  and  not  horizontal,  and   destitute  of 


UNITY,    ETC.,    OF    CREATION.  167 

that  glossy  green  which  we  admire  in  other 
regions ;  and  as  there  is  no  periodical  fall  of 
the  leaves,  there  is  not  only  the  absence  of  light 
and  shade,  but  of  that  noble  awakening  from 
death  to  life,  which  we  enjoy  with  every  return- 
ing spring.  In  striking  contrast,  we  may  turn 
to  an  autumnal  scene  in  the  north  of  Europe — 
we  have  the  birch  with  its  white  bark  and  pen- 
dulous and  slender  branches,  and  the  pines 
loaded  with  cones,  and  the  boulders  of  granite 
covered  with  the  cranberries  and  their  yellow 
fruit.  Nor  is  the  charm  of  colour  wanting,  al- 
though flowers  are  absent.  Not  to  speak  of  the 
tints  of  the  foliage,  the  mushroom  tribe  supply 
the  place  of  flowers,  the  amanita  resembles  a 
brilliant  orange  parasol,  and  other  plants  of  the 
same  tribe  afford  every  variety  of  form  and 
colour . 

But  passing  from  the  consideration  of  these 
groups  of  organic  beings,  which  give  character 
and  distinction  to  the  different  divisions  of  the 
earth,  we  may  contemplate  this  endless  variety 
from  another  point  of  view,  as  exhibited  in  the 
different  types  or  great  divisions  of  the  animal  and 
vegetable  kingdoms.  When  we  survey  any  such 
marked  botanical  or  zoological  family,  we  find  a 
rich  series  of  variations,  distinct  from  those  de- 
pending on  necessary  conditions.  These  varia- 
tions may  be  considered  as  ornamental,   and  the 


168 


APPENDIX. 


following  examples  will   sufficiently  illustrate  our 
meaning: — The    humming-birds    inhabiting    the 
tropical  parts  of  America  may  be   estimated  at 
about  a  hundred   species,  all   of  them  of  minute 
size,  and  presenting  scarcely  any  difference  in  the 
structure  of  their  organs  or  the  nature  of  the  food 
they  consume.       It    is  no  unphilosophical    state- 
ment to  maintain,  that  the  duty  assigned  to  these 
beautiful  birds  in  the  polity  of  nature  might  be 
as  effectually  performed   by  the  same  number  of 
individuals,  whether  restricted  to  a  single  species 
or  extended  to  a  hundred.     The  only  distinctions 
we  observe   between   them  is  in  the  form  of  the 
feathers  or  in  grouping  of  colours,   and   all   this 
harmony  and  contrast  as  artificial  and  intentional 
as  the  adaptations  of  the  most  essential  organs  of 
locomotion   and   digestion.      The  same  reasoning 
applies  to  the  cowry-shells  (Cypra-a),  of  which 
there  are   so  many  species  distinguished   by  the 
artificial  workings ;   some  in  exhibiting  circles  of 
various     colours,    and    lines    resembling   written 
characters ;  and  hence    their   names  of  Cyprasa, 
Arabia,  and   Hebraica,  from  the  lines  resembling 
the  square    or    cursive    characters    employed    in 
these  languages.     In  the  vegetable  kingdom,  the 
intelligent   observer   must    be    struck    with    the 
same    diversity.        In    the   class    of    orchideous 
plants,  whether   native  or  those  cultivated  in  our 
stoves,  we  find  not  merely  artistic  arrangements 


UNITY,    ETC.,    OF    CREATION.  160 

of  colouring,  but  also  the  most  remarkable  forms. 
In  one  species  the  flower  has  the  form  of  a  spi- 
der, a  fly,  or  a  bee,  and  in  others  that  of  the 
pigeon  or  a  butterfly:  and  all  these  forms  so 
obvious  as  to  occur  to  every  observer.  Even  in 
the  siliceous  shields  of  the  microscopic  animal- 
cules, as  figured  by  Ehrenberg,  we  find  forms  so 
complicated  and  beautiful  that  they  deserve  at- 
tention, as  affording  patterns  for  the  manufactu- 
rer or  the  artist. 

These  observations  hold  true  not  only  with 
respect  to  the  actual  creation,  but  to  those  ex- 
tinct ones  of  which  fragments  only  have  come 
down  to  us  There  are  several  great  divisions 
of  the  organic  kingdoms  which  have  left  but  few 
memorials  of  their  past  history,  the  remains  of 
birds  and  insects  are  very  scanty ;  and  the  same 
observation  extends  to  the  vegetable  kingdom. 
In  as  far,  however,  as  we  can  ascertain,  the  same 
richness  of  variation  existed  then  as  now.  The 
tribe  of  ferns  is  as  remarkable  for  the  beauty  as 
for  the  immense  variety  of  forms  which  it  dis- 
plays; but  these  manifestations  are  not  exhausti- 
ble  by  the  present  generation;  our  coal-fields  are 
rich  in  impressions  of  the  fossils  of  ferns,  but 
even  the  genera  under  which  they  are  ranged  are 
different  from  those  of  our  actual  flora.  The 
same  richness  of  forms  may  be  seen  in  the  tribes 
which  have  either  no  representatives  or  very  few 


170  APPENDIX. 

in  our  present  lands  or  waters.  We  need  only 
mention  the  hundreds  of  species  of  ammonites 
and  other  chambered  shells,  the  encrinites,  or 
lily-shaped  zoophytes,  and  the  remarkable  forms 
of  the  extinct  fishes.  In  this,  as  in  many  other 
things,  geology  carries  us  in  our  inferences  far 
beyond  what  the  data  of  merely  contemporaneous 
natural  history  could  conduct  us.  The  extinction 
not  only  of  species,  but  of  entire  families  of  or- 
ganic beings,  proves  beyond  all  doubt  that  the 
course  of  events  in  creation  is  not  one  of  fixed 
and  inflexible  necessity,  in  which  there  is  room 
for  nothing  but  development,  and  for  a  mere  ex- 
pansion of  certain  forms  and  organs.  On  the 
contrary,  there  is  every  conceivable  variation, 
under  uniform  laws,  and  a  series  of  arrangements 
beyond  what  is  requisite  for  mere  existence,  and 
which  adds  to  the  beauty  and  happiness  of  crea- 
tion. We  find  not  merely  displays  of  power  and 
wisdom,  but  of  benevolence  and  goodness. 


III. 

DOCTRINE   OF   THE   TRANSMUTATION   OF 
SPECIES. 

Biology,  or  the  science  of  life  and  vital  pheno- 
mena, has  its  principles  and  rules  of  philosophis- 


TRANSMUTATION    OF    SPECIES.  171 

ing,  although,  unfortunately,  they  arc  far  from 
being  universally  recognised  and  fully  carried 
out.  Of  these  we  shall  only  mention  two  which 
have  been  acknowledged  by  almost  all  the  more 
eminent  philosophical  naturalists,  as  Aristotle, 
Ray,  Harvey,  Linnaeus,  and  Cuvier,  namely,  the 
doctrine  of  final  causes,  not  merely  as  evidence 
of  creative  power,  but  also  as  a  powerful  instru- 
ment of  investigation  in  discovering  the  functions 
of  an  organ,  or  restoring  the  structure  of  some 
lost  animal,  of  which  only  fragments  remain. 
The  other  doctrine  is  the  permanence  of  species, 
which  maintains  that  although  the  individuals 
of  a  species  may  vary  within  certain  limits, 
still,  when  the  disturbing  force  ceases  to  operate, 
they  all  return  to  the  original  type,  and  that 
no  effects  of  domestication,  nor  of  diversities  of 
climate,  however  long  exerted,  nor  any  results 
from  breeding,  can  transmute  one  species  into 
another.  These  principles,  if  admitted,  place  an 
inseparable  barrier  in  the  way  of  hypothesis  and 
conjecture,  and  limit  our  field  of  investigation 
within  the  circle  of  what  is  possible  to  be 
known. 

Many  naturalists,  men  of  ingenuity  and 
imagination,  have  refused  to  confine  their  specu- 
lations within  narrow  limits,  and  have  expatiated 
into  regions  of  cosmogony,  where  brilliancy  of 
fancy  or  beauty  of  diction  have  afforded   some 


172  APPENDIX. 

small  recompense  for  the  absence  of  solid  philo- 
sophy. Hypotheses,  which  reject  the  considera- 
tion of  final  causes,  and  along  with  it  the 
doctrine  of  the  permanence  of  species,  are  not 
of  modern  origin,  although  they  have  found 
advocates  down  to  the  present  day.  Of  these 
systems,  the  most  prevalent  in  antiquity  were  the 
mechanical  or  atomistic,  in  which  not  merely 
vital,  but  even  mental  phenomena  were  ex- 
plained, solely  from  a  consideration  of  the  me- 
chanical properties  of  matter,  as  figure,  magni- 
tude, and  motion.  Such  were  the  notions  of 
Democritus  and  Epicurus,  which  have  obtained 
more  popularity  from  the  poetry  of  Lucretius 
than  from  the  logic  of  more  systematic  writers. 
The  atomism  of  the  Democritic  school  could  only 
have  arisen  at  a  period  when  mathematics  and 
mechanics  constituted  the  entire  stock  of  positive 
knowledge,  and  when  chemistry  was  unknown, 
and  existence  of  electro-magnetic  force  un- 
suspected. No  one  at  the  present  day  would 
attempt  to  account  for  chemical  phenomena, 
much  less  for  vital  actions,  on  purely  mechanical 
principles :  and  the  vibrations  and  vibratiuncles 
of  Hartley  may  be  regarded  as  the  last  vestige 
of  this  mode  of  philosophising  in  mental  science. 
Another  mode  of  accounting  for  the  origin  of 
organised  beings  equally  well  known,  but  less 
popular   in    ancient   times,   was   the   dynamical, 


TRANSMUTATION    OF    SPECIES.  173 

which,   in   addition  to  the  mechanical  properties  • 

of  inert  matter,  superadded  qualities,  tendencies^ 
and  appetences,  producing  organic  parts,  and 
propelling  them  onwards  in  a  course  of  develop- 
ment. These  dynamical  views,  which  assume 
something  analogous  to  life  as  the  cause  of  all 
the  phenomena  in  nature,  have,  from  their  very 
vague  but  comprehensive  character,  been  more 
prevalent  among  modern  physiologists.  Un- 
fortunately, we  have  no  detailed  exposition  of 
this  dynamical  system,  such  as  that  which 
Lucretius  has  presented  to  us  of  the  Democritic  ; 
but  in  its  outlines  it  was  nearly  identical  with 
the  notions  put  forward  by  La  Marck  and  other 
recent  writers.  According  to  Anaximander.  the 
earth  assumed  its  present  form  in  consequence  of 
the  evaporation  of  the  primaeval  water  oc- 
casioned by  the  heat  of  the  sun.  When  the 
earth  acquired  a  muddy  consistence,  vesicles 
were  formed  by  the  escape  of  air,  as  takes  place 
at  present  in  fermenting  marshes.  In  conse- 
quence of  evaporation,  these  vesicles  acquired 
spiny  shells  or  crusts,  and  became  vivified  by 
the  sun's  rays.  These  ova,  or  animals,  at  last 
burst  their  shells,  and  came  upon  the  dry  land. 
Both  the  earth  and  animals  went  through  a  pro- 
cess of  development,  until  more  perfect  animals 
were  produced.  Man  was  the  last  formed,  and 
according  to  Anaximander  and  the  author  of  the 


174  APPENDIX. 

'  Vestiges  of  Creation,'  he  commenced  his  career 
as  an  aquatic  animal  before  he  was  fitted  for  en- 
countering the  perils  of  dry  land.  It  will  be 
seen  from  this  brief  outline,  when  we  have  stated 
the  opinions  of  La  Marck  and  De  Maillet,  how 
little  originality  can  be  claimed  by  modern 
speculators. 

An  inheritor  of  the  doctrines  of  Anaximander, 
and  the  precursor  of  La  Marck,  was  De  Maillet, 
a  French  writer,  who  died  in  1738.  His  book 
was  published  in  Holland,  and  has  for  title, 
Telliamed,  (the  anagram  of  his  name.)  or  Dis- 
courses between  an  Indian  Philosopher  and  a 
French  Missionary,  concerning  the  diminution 
of  the  sea,  the  formation  of  the  earth,  and  the 
origin  of  man.  His  motive  for  writing  the  book 
was  very  extraordinary,  and  reminds  us  of  a 
similar  circumstance  in  the  life  of  Lord  Herbert  of 
Cherbury.  When  he  was  labouring  under  a  severe 
illness,  a  voice  revealed  to  him  that  he  was  not 
to  die,  but  was  destined  to  communicate  very 
important  matters  to  the  world,  and  this  was  the 
origin  of  the  Telliamed.  According  to  De 
Maillet,  the  sea,  which  once  covered  the  loftiest 
mountains,  has  been  gradually  subsiding.  As  even 
marine  animals  can  only  subsist  in  the  vicinity  of 
land,  they  did  not  appear  until  some  portions  of 
the  earth  had  emerged,  and  hence  we  find  no 
organic   remains   in    the   primary   strata.        All 


TRANSMUTATION    OF    SPECIES.  175 

animals  originated  in  the  water.  When  fishes 
were  thrown  on  dry  land,  their  pectoral  fins 
and  scales,  split  up  from  evaporation,  became 
feathers,  while  the  posterior  fins  were,  at  the 
same  time,  changed  into  feet.  Those  animals 
which  crawled  under  the  water  became  seals  and 
terrestrial  quadrupeds.  In  his  account  of  the 
origin  of  man,  De  Maillet  certainly  cannot  be 
charged  with  incredulity,  and  he  entertains  his 
readers  with  many  extraordinary  narrations. 
He  informs  us  that  the  Dutch  sometimes  catch 
Mermen,  and  some  of  them  could  speak  Dutch, 
and  one  of  them  asked  for  a  pipe  of  tobacco. 
He  also  mentions  a  sailor  who  had  fallen  over- 
board, and  lived  in  the  water  for  eight  years, 
until  he  became  covered  with  scales  from  the 
squammifj^ing  power  of  the  sea. 

Passing  over  the  opinions  of  Rodig,  who.  as  a 
German,  merely  expounded  and  systematised  the 
notions  of  De  Maillet,  we  may  devote  a  few, 
sentences  to  the  system  of  La  Marck.  The 
writer  we  have  mentioned  is  an  instance  of  the 
not  unfrequent  occurrence  of  great  scientific 
aptitude  in  one  direction,  with  little  capacity  for 
other  lines  of  investigation.  As  a  systematist, 
whether  in  botany  or  zoology,  his  merits  are 
very  great,  while  in  matters  requiring  abstract 
reasoning  he  shows  a  singular  deficiency  of 
judgment.       His   notions   respecting   the    origin 


176  APPENDIX. 

of  plants  and  animals  differ  but  little  from  those 
of  De  Maillet  and  Rodig,  although  mixed  up 
with  some  speculations  of  his  own.  Our  globe 
was  at  first  liquid,  and  afterwards  became  peopled 
by  vegetables  and  animals  of  the  simplest  struc- 
ture, which  became  more  highly  organised  in 
process  of  time  and  by  the  force  of  circumstances. 
What  is  still  more  wonderful,  the  solid  earth 
itself  was  produced  by  the  actions  of  those 
microscopic  creatures.  The  animals  transmuted 
the  water  into  calcareous  earth,  the  origin  of  our 
limestones,  and  the  vegetables  changed  the  same 
liquid  element  into  earthy  matter,  the  source  of 
argillaceous  deposits. 

Any  change  in  internal  conditions  will  occa- 
sion new  wants  in  the  animal,  and  these  will 
produce  new  habits,  which  in  their  turn  will 
give  rise  to  new  functions  and  organs,  and  so, 
according  to  the  doctrine  of  La  Marck,  the  tiger 
possessed  carnivorous  desires,  faculties,  and 
habits  before  he  obtained  cutting  teeth  and  sharp 
retractile  claws. 

In  Germany,  similar  opinions  to  those  of  La 
Marck,  have  found  numerous  advocates,  but.  as 
might  be  anticipated,  under  a  less  positive  and 
more  mystical  form,  and  deduced  from  the 
pantheistic  dogma  of  absolute  identity ;  the 
nature  of  all  things  being  the  same,  and  differ- 
ences unreal  and  merely  apparent,  or  as  Goethe 


TRANSMUTATION    OF    SPECIES.  177 

has  it   in  his   poem   on   the   metamorphoses  of 
plants : 

All  forms  are  resembling,  and  no  one  is  like  to  another. 

We  may  easily,  by  the  use  of  a  few  phrases 
and  metaphors,  account  for  every  diversity 
of  form  and  structure  in  plants  and  animals. 
"We  can  only  allude  to  those  speculations 
which  may  be  found  at  length  in  the  works  of 
Schelling  and  Oken ;  and  the  following  examples 
of  their  application  to  structure  of  animals  will 
be  sufficient  for  this  sketch.  Not  only  do  all 
animals  consist  of  the  same  parts,  but  each  part 
of  an  animal  repeats  or  represents  the  whole. 
The  upper  and  lower  extremities  consist  of  the 
same  parts,  as  is  the  case  with  the  right  and 
left  side,  and  also  the  sternum,  or  breast-bone 
on  the  abdominal  aspect*  is  the  repetition  of  the 
vertebral  column  on  the  dorsal.  The  cranium, 
in  like  manner,  is  a  miniature  of  the  whole 
body ;  the  nose  is  the  head  of  the  head,  the 
spongy  bones  of  the  nose  the  lungs  of  the  head, 
the  upper  and  lower  jaws  are  the  arms  and 
legs,  and  the  teeth  naturally  represent  the  fingers 
and  toes,  or,  it  may  be  nails  and  claws.  To 
readers  unacquainted  with  such  speculations, 
these  statements  might  appear  unbecoming  and 
ridiculous  on  the  part  of  the  writer,  and  we  must 
state  that  they  are  extracted  from  costly  folios, 

M 


178  APPENDIX. 

where  tiiey  are  illustrated  by  excellent  engrav- 
ings, and  they  form  the  basis  of  the  prelections 
of  many  a  learned  professor.* 

Since  the  theory  of  the  development  and 
transmutation  of  the  species  has  been  supposed 
to  obtain  support  from  the  succession  of  organic 
remains  which  we  observe  in  the  strata,  we 
have  thus  briefly  indicated  some  of  the  princi- 
ples which  that  theory  involves,  and  shall  now 
endeavour  to  explain  some  of  the  numerous 
facts  and  arguments  which  may  be  opposed  to 
it.  The  power  of  external  agents,  such  as 
varied  conditions  of  temperature,  moisture,  and 
food,  have,  no  doubt,  some  influence  in  modifying 
animals  and  also  vegetables.  The  plant  which 
has  smooth  leaves  and  stem  when  found  in 
the  low  countries,  becomes  stunted  and  covered 
with  hairs  on  the  summit  of  the  mountain ; 
and  the  Shetland  pony,  the  London  dray-horse, 
and  the  Arabian  courser,  are  illustrations  of  the 
influence  of  food  and  climate.  In  addition  to 
this,  we  are  informed  that  the  desires  of  the 
animal  becoming,  from  repetition,  habits,  produce 
in  the  course  of  ages  instruments  by  means  of 

*  The  following  are  the  titles  of  some  of  the  chapters  of  a 
work  on  natural  history,  published  by  an  eminent  professor  : 
On  Nothing.  Mathematics  is  based  upon  Nothing,  and 
consequently  arises  out  of  Nothing.  The  Essence  of  No- 
thing.    Forms  of  Nothing.     Something. 


TRANSMUTATION    OF    SPECIES.  179 

which  these  desires  are  gratified.  The  timid 
deer,  afraid  of  every  enemy,  by  habit  acquires 
vigorous  limbs,  and  listening  to  every  sound,  it 
acquires  ears ;  but  opposite  desires  may  co-exist, 
and  the  deer  is  also  bold  and  pugnacious,  and 
his  desire  to  fight  produces  horns,  instruments  of 
defence.  In  addition  to  these  causes,  animals  of 
different  species  may  breed  together,  and  hence 
we  have  mixed  races;  so  that  by  this  circum- 
stance alone  we  may  transmute  species,  just  as 
the  descendants  of  a  negro,  by  repeated  intermar- 
riages with  Europeans,  will  lose  every  vestige  of 
African  features. 

The  following  objections  may  be  offered  to 
these  statements  : — Almost  all  changes  produced 
in  plants  and  animals  are  the  results  of  human 
interference;  they  are  forced  states,  maintained 
by  incessant  care,  and  vanishing  when  the 
species  is  withdrawn  from  domestication.  The 
wild  horses  or  dogs,  in  all  quarters  of  the  world, 
recur  to  a  common  standard,  varieties  of  stature 
and  colour  disappear,  and  the  influence  of  climate 
and  food  ceases  to  be  apparent.  The  same  remark 
applies  to  hybridism ;  it  is  produced  by  man,  and 
in  the  animal  kingdom  at  least  appears  to  be 
scarcely  known  among  the  wild  races  of  the 
forest.  If,  on  the  one  hand,  such  modifications  as 
we  have  noticed  are  chiefly  due  to  the  persever- 
ance and  industry  of  man,  we  must  also  remember 


ISO  APPENDIX. 

that  without  his  care  such  changes  are  impossi- 
ble. Animals  in  a  wild  state  are  confined  as 
rigorously  to  a  uniformity  of  external  conditions 
as  if  they  were  shut  up  in  an  enclosed  park  or 
the  cages  of  a  menagerie.  Mountain  ranges  and 
an  expanse  of  ocean  confine  the  quadruped  to  his 
native  region ;  the  kangaroo  has  not  made  his 
way  from  Australia  to  New  Guinea  or  New 
Zealand,  and  the  quadrupeds  of  Brazil  have  not 
wandered  across  the  Andes  to  Quito  or  Peru. 

If  the  range  of  external  influence  is  thus  limit- 
ed, the  range  of  desires,  habits,  and  faculties,  is 
confined  to  an  equally  narrow  compass.  A  theory, 
to  be  deserving  of  consideration,  must  compre- 
hend the  whole  of  the  phenomena.  Now.  the 
doctrine  of  appetites  and  desires  only  compre- 
hends the  half.  In  the  vegetable  kingdom  it  can 
have  no  place.  If  carnivorous  desires  gave  the 
eagle  his  crooked  bill  and  sharp  talons,  then 
similar  desires  may  have  given  the  Dion^ea  musu- 
pula  its  fly-catching  leaf.  In  the  transmutation 
of  vegetable  species,  we  are  therefore  deprived 
of  a  cause  which  operates  in  the  animal  king- 
dom. Even  among  animals  there  are  a  class  of 
structures  and  arrangements  which  are  perfectly 
inexplicable  on  any  principle  included  in  the  de- 
velopment h}'pothesis.  The  train  of  the  pea- 
cock, with  its  ocelli  so  regularly  formed,  and 
colours  so  beautifully  arranged,  the  crest  of  the 


TRANSMUTATION    OF    SPECIES.  181 

cockatoo,  and  a  crowd  of  similar  instances,  are 
inexplicable  by  any  influence  of  external  circum- 
stances or  internal  desires,  for  the  same  circum- 
stances occur  in  the  vegetable  kingdom ;  thus 
the  flower  of  the  orchidium  is  the  fac  simile  of  a 
butterfly,  and  in  plants  of  the  same  group  we 
find  flowers  resembling  almost  every  kind  of 
animal. 

There  is,  however,  another  objection  which 
has  been  urged  by  Cuvier,  which  is  of  itself 
sufficient  to  set  the  question  at  rest  in  so  far  as 
the  influence  of  desires  can  produce  the  transmu- 
tation of  an  animal  species.  In  such  a  case  an 
animal  must  desire  in  opposition  to  its  own  proper 
nature,  as  when  an  eel  (pits  the  waters  and  adopts 
the  habits  of  a  snake  ;  or  when  a  seal,  so  well 
organised  for  swimming,  and  whose  favourite 
food  is  fish,  attempts  to  run  upon  land  and  pur- 
sue its  food  like  a  bear.  La  Marck,  Geoffrey, 
St.  Hilaire,  and  other  transmutationists,  reject  all 
final  causes  :  and  what  is  still  more  remarkable, 
they  do  so  under  a  form  still  more  incomprehensi- 
ble than  that  of  Lucretius  himself.  The  old  ato- 
mists  maintain  that  the  organ  fortuitously  pro- 
duced suggested  its  use,  '  quod  natum  est  id 
procreat  usus.1  The  modern  dynamists  assert 
that  the  function  existed  first,  and  this  produced 
its  organ.  Lucretius  would  have  said  the  eye 
formed  by  chance  produced  the  faculty  of  vision. 


182  APPENDIX. 

La  Marck,  vision  existed  first,  and  this  produced 
an  eye  to  see  with.* 

It  is,  however,  with  the  geological  bearing  of 
the  transmutation  theory  that  the  public  has  of 
late  been  chiefly  interested,  and  a  few  observa- 
tions will  be  requisite  to  place  the  subject  in  a 
proper  light.  Here  we  have  to  remark  that  if 
organic  remains  were  found  classified  in  the 
strata  from  the  oldest  beds  up  to  the  newest,  pre- 
cisely as  the  most  learned  and  skilful  transmu- 
tationist  could  desire,  this  alone  would  never 
prove  the  truth  of  his  hypothesis.  If  in  the  oldest 
fossiliferous  rocks  we  found  only  the  simplest  of 


*  This  absurdity  of  Lucretius  has  been  exposed  by  our 
poet  Prior,  with  his  accustomed  humour  and  good  sense. 

Note  here  Lucretius  dares  to  teach 
(As  all  our  youth  may  learn   from  Creech) 
That  eyes  were  made  and  could  not  view, 
Nor  hands  embrace,  nor  feet  pursue ; 
But  heedless  Nature  did  produce 
-    The  members  first  and  then  the  use. 
What  each  must  act  was  yet  unknown, 
Till  all  was  moved  by  chance   alone. 
A  man  first  builds  a  country  seat, 
Then  finds  the  walls  not  fit  to  eat. 
Another  plants,  and  wondering  sees 
Nor  books  nor  medals  on  his  trees. 
Yet  poet  and  philosopher 
Was  he,  who  durst  such  whims  aver. 
Blest  for  his  sake  be  human  reason, 
Which  came  at  last,  though  late  in  season. 


TRANSMUTATION    OF    SPECIES.  183 

organic  bodies,  and  if  in  each  succeeding  forma- 
tion they  increased  in  complication  of  structure, 
it  would  only  prove  that  a,  different  order  of  suc- 
cession prevailed  from  that  which  actually  oc- 
curs. It  would  never  of  itself  prove  the  transmu- 
tation of  species.  It  is,  however,  a  very  .proper 
investigation  to  ascertain  whether  there  are  any 
proofs  that  organised  beings  are  of  more  compli- 
cated structures  in  the  newer  than  in  the  older 
strata.  In  such  an  inquiry  the  history  of  the 
remains  of  terrestrial  and  aquatic  animals  should 
be  considered  separately.  We  can  never  acquire 
so  complete  an  insight  into  the  past  creations 
of  terrestrial  plants  and  animals  as  we  can  of 
marine  species.  It  is  comparatively  seldom  that 
remains  of  terrestrial  animals  become  embedded 
in  marine  deposits,  and  most  of  the  older  fossili- 
ferous  strata  were  accumulated  in  deep  water,  and 
remote  from  land.  At  the  present  day  vast 
calcareous  deposits  are  forming  in  the  coral 
archipelagos  of  the  Pacific,  but  how  rarely  will 
remains  of  mammiferous  animals  be  found  em- 
bedded in  these  modern  formations?  It  will 
be  admitted  that  of  all  the  divisions  of  the 
animal  kingdom,  the  mollusca  or  shell-fish  tribe 
affords  the  completest  scries  of  species,  and 
in  uninterrupted  succession,  from  the  oldest 
secondary  formations  down  to  the  actual  inhabit- 
ants of  our  present  seas.       If  we  now  inquire 


184  APPENDIX. 

whether  the  history  of  fossil  molluscs  afford 
any  evidence  of  progressive  development,  we  can 
reply  in  the  negative.  Of  all  the  divisions  of  the 
mollusca,  the  cephalopoda  or  cuttle-fish  tribe,  to 
which  also  the  nautilus  belongs,  are  unques- 
tionably the  most  perfect,  and  fully  developed. 
The  chambered  shells  of  the  cuttle-fish  tribe, 
are  found  in  great  abundance  in  the  Silurian 
strata.  The  species  are  extremely  numerous,  be- 
longing to  many  genera,  some  of  great  size  and 
very  complicated  structure.  Animals  of  this  divi- 
sion, still  more  abundant,  and  of  new  and  strange 
forms,  are  found  everywhere  in  the  upper  secon- 
dary strata.  They  become  rare  in  the  tertiary  for- 
mations, and  in  our  present  seas  we  can  only  enu- 
merate about  three  species  of  chambered  shells. 
In  this  case  the  theory  of  a  progressive  deteriora- 
tion of  the  mollusca  would  be  more  feasible  than 
that  of  a  progressive  development. 

Before  concluding,  we  are  anxious  to  call 
attention  to  another  view  of  the  subject, 
which,  we  think,  is  decisive  of  the  question  of 
transmutation  of  species,  and  consequently  of 
that  of  development  also.  It  may,  we  think,  be 
demonstrated  that  such  transmutations  involve 
anatomical  impossibilities.  There  are  two  orders 
of  truths  in  zoology,  one  of  them,  when  exclu- 
sively pursued,  apparently  favourable  to  the  doc- 
trines of  the  transmutationists,   and    the  other, 


TRANSMUTATION    Oti    SI'iiClES.  1 85 

although  equally  true,  is  but  rarely  insisted  on. 
The  gradation  of  lizards  to  serpents  is  of  the 
most  imperceptible  kind,  and  there  are  animals,  re- 
garding which  it  is  difficult  to  decide  to  which  divi- 
sion they  should  belong.  The  gradation  from  the 
frog  tribe  to  fishes  is  still  more  remarkable,  and 
animals  have  been  recently  discovered  of  so  inter- 
mediate a  nature  as  to  render  it  a  delicate  matter 
to  pronounce  whether  they  are  to  be  referred  to 
the  batrachia  or  to  fishes.  These  facts  are  apt  to 
carry  away  the  imaginations  of  young  naturalists, 
especially  when  the  other  point  of  view  is  neg- 
lected. There  are  groups  of  animals  in  which 
transitions  are  impossible,  and  combinations  of 
organs  which  can  never  occur.  A  tiger  with 
cloven  hoofs,  and  still  more,  a  winged  serpent, 
cannot  exist.  In  like  manner  there  are  some 
divisions  of  the  animal  kingdom  so  well  defined, 
and  whose  differences  from  all  other  classes  are  so 
great,  that  wTe  can  scarcely  imagine  a  transition 
to  another  class.  Thus,  to  take  an  obvious  in- 
stance, there  is  no  middle  term  between  a  verte- 
bral and  an  invertebral  animal.  In  the  vert 
the  mass  of  the  nervous  system  is  included  in  a 
long  cavity  extending  from  the  head  down  the 
hollow  of  the  spine;  the  hard  parts,  the  bones, 
are  internal.  In  the  invertebral  on  the  other 
hand,  the  nervous  cords  run  along  the  abdo- 
men, and  under  the  viscera,  do!  above,  as  in  verte- 


186  APPENDIX. 

brals,  and  the  hard  parts  are  external,  and  in- 
clude the  muscles ;  in  fact,  the  two  classes  are 
contrasts  to  each  other,  and  it  is  difficult  even  to 
conceive  a  being  half  vertebral,  half  insect.  In 
this  direction,  therefore,  a  transmutation  of  species 
cannot  be  looked  for.  To  quote  only  one  other 
example,  the  class  of  birds  stand  alone.  They 
may  be  defined  oviparous,  warm-blooded  bipeds, 
with  anterior  limbs  for  flying.  What  Cuvier 
said  in  a  similar  discussion  respecting  the  cuttle- 
fish, is  equally  true  here :  the  birds  lead  to 
nothing,  they  graduate  into  no  other  class. 
They  stand  between  mammifers  and  reptiles. 
To  convert  a  bird  into  a  mammifer,  or  even 
into  something  intermediate,  is  inconceivable, 
and  the  impossibility  of  such  a  physiological 
alchemy  will  appear  strongest  to  those  whose 
knowledge  of  organisation  is  most  extensive. 
The  idea  of  a  mammiferous  animal  includes  not 
one  condition,  but  many,  all  inseparable,  viz., 
utero  gestation,  mammary  glands ;  and  these 
again  involve  fleshy  lips  and  tongue  for  suction, 
an  epiglottis  to  protect  the  windpipe,  a  diaphragm 
and  abdominal  muscles,  which  are  also  necessary 
for  the  same  ends.  None  of  these  conditions 
exist  in  birds,  nor  arc  they  compatible  with  the 
structure  of  a  vertebrate  destined  to  fly,  as 
we  might  clearly  show  by  fuller  illustration. 
On   the    other   side    of  the    birds   we  find    the 


FOSSIL      REMAINS. 


\ 


The   Dinornis. 


TRANSMUTATION    OF    SPECIES.  187 

reptiles ;  but  here  also  the  void  between  the 
two  groups  is  deep  and  wide.  Both  are 
oviparous,  but  the  reptiles  are  cold-blooded, 
while  birds  possess  the  highest  temperature  of 
any  class  of  animals.  The  vigour  of  the  mus- 
cular force  depends  upon  the  activity  of  the  re- 
spiratory function,  which  is  also  equivalent  to  a 
high  temperature,  and  hence  great  powers  of 
flight  are  observed  in  warm-blooded  animals. 
This  circumstance  places  a  barrier  between  the 
birds  and  the  reptiles  which  cannot  be  passed, 
and  involves  along  with  it  a  vast  number  of  sub- 
ordinate conditions.  The  reptile  only  displays 
activity  when  stimulated  by  heat,  or  urged  by 
fear  or  hunger,  and  sinks  into  torpor  on  the 
smallest  change  of  temperature  or  deprivation  of 
moisture ;  while  the  bird,  from  his  power  of 
generating  heat  and  active  respiration,  can  sup- 
port any  change  of  temperature,  and  his  muscles 
soem  incapable  of  fatigue.  The  swallow,  in  its 
migrations,  crosses  the  whole  breadth  of  the  Bay 
of  Biscay  without  giving  a  moment's  rest  to  its 
wings,  and  the  condor  can  remain  for  hours  on 
the  wing,  far  above  the  summits  of  the  Andes, 
where  the  temperature  must  be  as  low  as  at 
Spitzbergen,  and  the  atmosphere  so  rare  as  to 
demand  a  muscular  power  on  the  part  of  the  bird 
which  is  scarcely  credible. 


188  APPENDIX. 

IV. 

RECENT  APPEARANCE   OP  MAX. 

Although  resting  chiefly  on  negative  evidence, 
the  recent  origin  of  man  is  one  of  the  best  estab- 
lished facts  in  geological  science.     The  absence  of 
human  remains  from  all  but  the  most  modern  and 
superficial   deposits,    although  very  remarkable, 
is  only  a  fragment  of  the  evidence  we  can  adduce. 
Man,  even  in  the  most  savage  condition,  leaves 
memorials  behind  him   still  more   durable  than 
the  hardest  parts  of  his  frame;  stone  hatchets, 
flint  arrow-heads,  and  fragments  of  pottery,  may 
be  preserved  for  untold  ages,  when  embedded  in 
aqueous  deposits ;  but  no  such  relics  have  ever 
been  observed  in  any  but  the  most  modern  forma- 
tions.    While  the  purely  geological  argument  is 
free  from  exception,  and  neither  bones  of  man, 
nor  the  rudest   productions  of  human  art,  are 
to   be  found   in    ancient    strata,  this   is  only  a 
portion  of  the  induction.     If  the  human  race  had 
existed    not  from   eternity,  but   even  for  a  few 
myriads  of  years,  we  may  well  wonder  at  the 
small  progress  which  has  been  made  in  science, 
and  that  it  is  not  yet  four  centuries  since  Ame- 
rica and   Australia   became  known  to   Europe. 
This  argument  is  well  put  by  Hume,  in  one  of 
his  most  objectionable  works  :  '  It  is  not  two  thou- 


RECENT    APPEARANCE    OF    MAN.  189 

sand  years  since  vines  were  transplanted  into 
France  ;  though  there  is  no  climate  in  the  world 
more  favourable  to  them.  It  is  not  three  cen- 
turies since  horses,  cows,  sheep,  swine,  dogs, 
corn,  were  known  in  America,  Is  it  possible 
that  during  the  revolutions  of  a  whole  eternity, 
there  never  arose  a  Columbus,  who  might  open 
a  communication  between  Europe  and  the  Con- 
tinent ?  To  this  remark  we  may  acid,  that  from 
the  moment  that  mankind  began  to  explore  the 
shores  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  the  discovery  of 
xVmerica  was  inevitable :  and  had  the  great  en- 
terprise of  discovering  a  new  world  been  denied 
to  Columbus,  in  1493,  it  would  have  been  the 
chance  achievement  of  the  Portuguese,  Alvarez 
Cabral,  who,  on  his  way  to  India,  was  driven  by 
a  storm  on  the  coasts  of  Brazil,  only  seven  years 
after  the  first  voyage  of  Columbus. 

The  recent  origin  of  man  is  a  foot  of  great 
value  in  its  bearings  on  the  question  of  the  trans- 
mutation of  species.  The  entrance  of  man  upon 
the  world  is,  so  to  speak,  abrupt,  and  in  the  vast 
variety  of  fossil  remains  we  find  nothing  inter- 
mediate between  biped,  two-handed  man,  and 
the  four-handed  ape  tribc.a 

While  man  is  thus  a  modern  inhabitant  of 
the  earth,  and  in  his  bodily  structure  exhibits 
contrasts  rather  than  resemblances  to  the  ape 
tribe,  we  find  that  his  organisation  would  be  an 


190  APPENDIX. 

enigma  unless  united  with  reason  and  a  high 
capability  for  instruction.  The  breadth  compared 
with  the  small  depth  of  his  chest,  his  pelvis,  the 
mode  in  which  his  head  is  articulated  to  the  ver- 
tebral column,  and  the  structure  of  his  foot,  all 
indicate  a  being  made  for  erect  progression,  while 
the  anterior  extremity,  no  longer  of  any  use  as  an 
organ  of  locomotion,  becomes  an  instrument  of 
mind — the  organ  par  excellence  (opyavov  opyawv), 
as  Aristotle  long  ago  termed  it.  Even  the  nature 
of  his  visual  faculty  is  an  anomaly  which  is  only 
in  harmony  with  his  nature  as  an  improvable 
and  reasoning  being,  not  guided  by  blind  im- 
pulse. The  beautiful  researches  of  Berkeley  and 
his  followers  have  proved  beyond  doubt  that  it 
requires  a  long  education,  aided  by  the  sense  of 
touch,  to  enable  the  eye  to  judge  of  the  magni- 
tude and  distance  of  objects.  In  the  inferior 
animals  it  is  not  so  ;  the  chick  the  moment  it 
quits  the  shell,  and  the  lamb  from  the  instant  of 
its  birth,  see  objects  in  their  true  position  and 
distance.  Of  all  animals  man  alone  is  artificially 
taught  to  use  his  senses.  If  such  be  the  case,  the 
first  human  beings  would  require  instruction  for 
their  guidance,  to  see  objects  in  their  true  posi- 
tion, and  to  distinguish  the  nourishing  from  the 
noxious  fruit :  for  them  experience  would  come 
too  late.  Something  similar  to  what  is  supposed 
often  occurs  at  the  present  day.     The  Australian 


RECENT    APPEARANCE    OF    MAN.  191 

savage,  whose  physical  education  is,  however, 
very  perfect,  will  obtain  abundance  of  food  where 
the  best  naturalist  from  Europe  would  starve ; 
he  knows  those  trees  which  conceal  caterpillars 
under  their  bark,  where  fresh  water  shell-fish  are 
to  be  found,  and  what  roots  may  be  eaten.  We 
may  infer  that,  in  the  first  instance,  man,  how- 
ever perfect  may  be  his  reasoning  powers,  would 
require  from  a  higher  source  even  that  know- 
ledge which  experience  confers  on  his  descend- 
ants. 


INDEX    AND    GLOSSARY. 


Page 
Abdominal.    Belonging  or  relating  to  the  belly,  80,  etc. 
Agassiz.     On  fish  of  the  Magnesian  limestone,        .      21 
On  classification  of  fishes,  .  .       22 

Alluvial  deposits.  Deposits  consisting  of  materials, 
such  as  earth,  sand,  gravel,  or  stones,  which  have 
been  washed  away  by  floodings  of  rivers,  and 
thrown  down  on  land  not  permanently  submerged 
under  water,  .  .  .  .  .63 

Ammonia.  A  gas,  consisting  of  azote  and  hydro- 
gen. This  gas  evaporates  from  smelling  salts, 
and  to  it  their  strong  smell  is  due,  .  .     128 

Ammonites,        .  .  .   See  pp.  18,  86,  etc. 

Anaximander.     On  cosmogony,        .  .  .     173 

Animalcules,  Minute  animals,  most  of  which  are 
so  small  as  to  be  invisible,  except  when  viewed 
through  a  microscope.  In  precise  language,  the 
name  is  now  restricted  to  a  division  of  infusorial 
animalcules,  termed  polygastrica,  .  (.m;.  etc. 

Ansted,  Professor.     On  the  fossils  of  the  sedimen- 
tary strata,  .  .  .19 
On  the  Megatherium,  .          80,  etc. 
ft 


194  INDEX    AND    GLOSSARY. 

Page 
Anterior.     Before  in  time  or  place,  .      81 

Ape.     Anatomy  of,  compared  with  that  of  man,     .     110 

Argillaceous.     Clayey,  composed  of  clay. 

Arran.     The  rocks  of,  ...  13 

Articulated.  (Articidus,  a  joint)  jointed,  or  having 
joints,  .  .  .  .  .  .80 

Assimilation.  A  process  hy  which  animals  and  ve- 
getables transform  into  their  own  peculiar  sub- 
stance the  materials  they  receive  from  without,     128 

Asterolepis.  This  name  signifies  star-scale,  and  was 
applied  to  a  fossil  fish  of  the  celacanth  family,  on 
account  of  the  stellar  aspect  of  the  scales.  Mr. 
Miller  states  that  its  true  scales  were  not  stellife- 
rous,  and  that  the  stellate  markings  were  restrict- 
ed to  the  dermal  plates  of  the  head.  The  aste- 
rolepis presents  the  oldest  example  of  vertebral 
structure  discovered,  as  yet,  in  the  most  ancient 
geological  system  of  Scotland,      .  .  .     141 

Atheism,  (a,  priv,  and  deog,  God;)  a  system  main- 
taining that  there  is  no  God,         .  .  .     112 

Atom,  (a,  priv,  and  rtfivw,  to  cut;)  an  ultimate 
particle  of  matter;  a  particle  so  minute  as  to  be 
invisible.  Atoms  are  conceived  to  be  the  first 
principles  or  component  parts  of  all  bodies,  .  172 
Azote,  (a,  priv,  and  gcoi].  life;)  a  gas,  called  also 
nitrogen.  It  forms  a  principal  part  of  the  at- 
mospheric air ;  ami  it  exists,  in  various  quantities, 
in  different  animal  substances.  Substances  are 
said  to  be  azotised  when  they  contain  azote  in 
their  composition,  ....    128 


INDEX    AND    GLOSSARY.  195 

Page 

Basin.  This  name  is  given  to  deposits  lying  in  a 
cavity  or  depression  of  more  ancient  strata.  The 
London  and  Paris  Basins  are  well-known  exam- 
ples. 

Belemnite.  (0e\epvov,  a  dart;)  an  extinct  genus  of 
cephalopodous  shell-fish.  They  were  allied  to  the 
cuttle-fish,  and  had  a  long  straight  chambered 
conical  shell  in  the  interior  of  the  body.  From 
the  resemblance  of  the  shell  to  a  dart,  the  name 
has  been  derived,    .  .  .  .  .92 

Bimanous.  (Bis,  twice,  and  manus,  a  hand  ;)  two- 
handed.  Bimana  is  the  name  given  to  the  first 
order  of  the  mammalia,  including  the  human 
species  alone,  .....     112 

Biology.  (Pios,  life,  and  \oyos,  discourse  ;)  the  sci- 
ence of  life,  .  .  .  .  .     1G1 

Biped.  (Bis,  twice,  and  pes,  a  foot ;)  a  two-footed 
animal,         .  .  .  •  •  .110 

Bivalves.  Shells  consisting  of  two  parts  or  valves 
hinged  together.  The  common  cockle  and  mus- 
cle are  examples.    .....     134 

Boue,  M.     On  the  deluge,     .  .  .  .GO 

Boulders.  Large  rounded  blocks  of  stone,  which 
are  found  either  exposed  on  the  surface  of  the 
ground,  or  embedded  in  loose  soil,  and  which 
have  been  transported  by  natural  causes  from  a 
distance.  Their  transportation  ia  ascribed  by 
some  to  currents,  ami  by  others  to  floating  ice,  .     167 

Brachiopoda.  ((ipax^v,  an  arm,  and  irovj,  a  foot;) 
a  division  of  mollusca,  so  named  by  Cuvicr,  from 


196  INDEX    AND    GLOSSARY. 

Pago 
their  having  two  long  spiral  arms  placed  on  each 
side  of  the  mouth,  which  in  many  species  can  be 
unrolled  to  a  considerable  length,  and  protruded 
to  some  distance  in  search  of  food. — Hobiyn,   104,  etc. 

Buckland,  Dr.     On  the  six  days  of  creation,  .       41 

On  the  deluge,         .  .  .68 

Calcareous.  Composed  of  carbonate  of  lime. 
Common  limestone  and  chalk  are  calcareous 
rocks,  ......        9,  etc. 

Carbonic  acid.  A  gas,  composed  of  carbon  and 
oxygen.  This  is  the  gas  which  is  produced  and 
given  off  by  the  burning  of  charcoal.  It  is  also 
the  gas  which  rises  in  bubbles,  when  a  bottle  of 
brisk  beer  or  of  champaigne  is  opened,  .  .     128 

Carnivorous.  (Caro,  flesh;  voro,  to  eat;)  a  term 
applied  in  zoology  to  a  group  of  mammiferous 
animals  which  feed  on  flesh,  .  .  .20 

Carse.  A  provincial  term,  applied  to  certain  flat 
lands  in  valleys  among  the  hills  of  Scotland,       »        8 

Causes  (final).  The  final  cause  is  the  end  contem- 
plated in  an  act— that  for  which  the  act  was  per- 
formed,       .....  3  etc. 

Caudal.     (Cauda,  tail;)  belonging  to  the  tail,        .      82 

Cephalopoda.  (*£(£aAJj,  the  head,  and  novs,  the 
foot;)  a  tern;  in  zoology  applied  to  an  order 
of  the  Mollnsca,  comprehending  those  inverte- 
bral  animals,  such  as  the  sepise  and  the  nautilus, 
whose  organs  of  locomotion  and  prehension  are 
placed  around  the  head,    ....    104 


ENDEX    AND    GLOSSARY.  197 

Page 
Chalk.     For  explanation,  see  page  18. 
Chalmers,  Dr.     On  the  interpretation  of  Genesis, 
Preface,  note. 
On  the  origin  of  our  present  races,     180 
On  meeting  of  forces,  to  produce 

results  which  are  desirable,        .     117 
On  the   amount  of  proof  for  the 
being  and  perfections  of  God,     .     138 
Clay.     The  varieties  of  clay  are  essentially  silicates 

of  alumina. 
Cleavage.  The  cleavage  of  rocks  is  an  apparently 
crystalline  structure,  which  sometimes  belongs 
to  them,  and  on  account  of  which  they  are  more 
easily  split  in  one  direction,  distinct  from  that  of 
the  planes  of  stratification,  than  in  others,  .       36 

Cold-blooded.  Cold-blooded  animals  are  those  in 
which  the  temperature  of  the  body  differs  little 
from  that  of  the  air  or  water  in  which  they  live. 
Fishes  and  reptiles  are  examples,  .  .     162 

Comparative  anatomy.  The  science  in  which  the 
anatomical  structures  of  various  animals  are  con- 
sidered and  compared,  .  ...      30 

Conchifera.  A  name  in  zoology  given  to  a  tribe  of 
molluscous  animals,  comprehending  all  those 
which  are  furnished  with  bivalve  shells,  10 i,  etc. 

Congeners.  (Con  and  gcncr,  kind,  race;)  of  the 
same  class,  of  a  closely-related  nature.    .  .     163 

Conglomerates.  (Con,  together,  and  gtemero,  to 
heap;)  rocks  composed  of  rounded,  waioworn 


198  INDEX    AND    GLOSSARY. 


Page 


fragments  of  stone,  cemented  together  by  another 
mineral  substance,  which  may  be  of  a  siliceous, 
calcareous,  or  agillaceous  nature,  .  .       13 

Coral.  The  calcareous  trunk,  or  base  of  certain 
marine  zoophytes,  .  .  .  .  .17 

Cosmogonies,  (koc^o?,  world;  vivofiai,  to  be  born, 
or  exist.)  Hypotheses  or  theories  for  explaining 
the  origin  of  the  universe,  .  .  .24 

Cotton  trees.  '  What  European  forest  has  ever 
given  birth  to  a  stem  equal  to  that  of  the  ceiba, 
the  wild  cotton  tree,  which  alone  simply  render- 
ed concave,  has  been  known  to  produce  a  boat 
capable  of  containing  one  hundred  persons  V — 
Bryan  Edwards,     .  .  .  .  .79 

Cowper,  Verses  by,  on  Geologists,  Preface. 

Crania,  Remarks  on,  ....      34 

Crater.  The  cavity  at  the  summit  of  a  volcano 
through  which  the  volcanic  matters  are  ejected,     123 

Cromwell,  Oliver.  Story  of  in  childhood,     .  .     114 

Crustacea.  A  class  of  animals  in  which  the  exte- 
rior of  the  body  is  a  hard  crust.  Crabs  and  lob- 
sters are  examples,  ....     104 

Crystals  are  substances  possessing  certain  regular- 
ities of  internal  structure,  and  usually  also  of 
external  form.  The  peculiarities  of  crystals  are 
commonly  produced  during  the  solidification  of 
the  substances  from  the  liquid  or  gaseous  state. 

Cuvier,  Baron.    On  ancient  monuments,     .  .      63 

On  the  cuttle-fish,  .  .  .105 


INDEX    AND    GLOSSARY.  199 

Page 
Death.  On  death  of  animals  before  the  Fall,  .  50 
Delta.  A  term  applied  to  the  low  alluvial  land 
which  is  frequently  found  at  the  mouths  of  riv- 
ers. A  river  emptying-  itself  into  the  sea,  fre- 
quently deposits  at  its  mouth  the  material  for 
new  land.  The  flatness  of  the  land  so  formed 
usually  causes  the  river  to  divide  into  several 
branches,  which  discharge  themselves  by  differ- 
ent and  shifting  mouths  into  the  sea.  The  land 
contained  between  the  two  extreme  branches  and 
the  sea,  being  of  a  triangular  form,  has  got  the 
name  Delta,  from  the  Greek  capital  letter  A,  of 
the  same  name,       .  .  .  .  .8 

Detritus.  (Dc,  from ;  tern,  to  rub ;)  materials,  such 
as  gravel,  sand,  and  clay,  rubbed  off  or  worn 
away  from  rocks,    .  .  .  .  .8 

De  Maillet,  doctrines  of,  .  .  .17-4 

Devonian  system.  (Name  derived  from  Devon- 
shire, where  the  system  is  extensively  devel- 
oped.) For  description,  see  page  15. 
Diaphragm.  In  anatomy,  the  midriff;  a  muscle 
separating  the  thorax,  or  chest,  from  the  abdo- 
men, or  belly,  .....  18G 
Diluvial  deposits.    Deposits  transported  and  thrown 

down  by  a  deluge,  .  .  .  .60 

Disintegration.     The  process  of  breaking  up  a  mass 

into  fragments,  or  of  wearing  it  away,      .  .     124 

Double  refraction.  A  property  possessed  by  some 
transparent  minerals  of  making  objects  seen 
through  them  appear  double,       .  ...    141 


200  INDEX    AND    GLOSSARY. 


Page 


Earths.  An  earth  in  chemistry  is  a  solid,  opaque, 
friable  substance,  without  lustre,  and  incombus- 
tible ;  it  is  thus  distinguished  from  metals  on  the 
one  hand,  and  from  carbon  and  other  combusti- 
ble substances  on  the  other. — Hoblijn,      .  .141 

Echinus,  Remarks  on — (See  spine,)  .  34,  35 

Edinburgh  Review.     See  Preface. 

Elephant,  Structure  of,  .  .  .     107 

Encrinites,  Remarks  on,  .  .  .92 

Entozoa.  (evrog,  within;  gwov,  an  animal;)  intes- 
tinal worms ;  a  class  of  articulated  animals  com- 
prising the  parasites,  which  inhabit  the  internal 
parts  of  other  animals,       .  .  .  .96 

Epiglottis,  (em,  upon,  and  yXwrra,  the  tongue;) 
in  anatomy,  one  of  the  cartilages  of  the  larynx, 
whose  use  is  to  cover  the  glottis  when  food  or 
drink  is  passing  into  the  stomach,  to  prevent  it 
from  entering  the  larynx  and  obstructing  the 
breath. —  Quincy,    .....     186 

Equinoxes.  (Mquus,  equal,  and  nox,  the  night, 
implying  the  signification,  day  equal  to  night;) 
the  two  times  of  the  year  at  which  the  sun 
passes  over  head  at  the  equator,  or  at  which  the 
day  is  equal  to  the  night  over  all  the  world.  The 
precession  of  the  equinoxes  denotes  a  slow,  reg- 
ular retrogradation  of  the  equinox  along  the 
ecliptic  from  east  to  west,  or  in  the  contrary  di- 
rection to  the  apparent  motion  of  the  sun,  .      64 

Equivocal  generation  is  the  supposed  production 


INDEX    AND    GLOSSARY.  201 

Page 
of  animals   without  sexual  intercourse,  and   of 
plants  without  seed — a  doctrine  now  exploded. 
— See  remarks  on  page  92,  note. 

Eroded.  (E,  out,  and  rodo,  I  gnaw ;)  eaten  into, 
or  eaten  away.  A  term  frequently  applied  to 
rocks  which  have  been  wasted  by  water,  .      28 

Exuviae.  (Exucre,  to  put  off;)  properly  speaking, 
the  transient  parts  of  certain  animals  which,  they 
put  off  or  lay  down,  to  assume  new  ones,  as  ser- 
pents and  caterpillars  change  their  skins ;  in 
geology,  it  refers  not  only  to  the  cast-off  cover- 
ings of  animals,  but  to  fossil  shells,  and  other  re- 
mains which  animals  have  left  in  the  strata  of 
the  earth. — Lyell,  .....     133 

Facet  or  Facette.     (French,  facette,  from  face ;) 

little  face  ;  flat  surface  with  definite  boundaries,    141 
Falconer's  Shipwreck,  quoted,  .  .  .     123 

Femur.     Thigh  bone,  .  .  .  .81 

Fern.  A  plant  of  several  species,  constituting  the 
tribe  or  family  of  Filices,  which  have  their 
fructification  on  the  back  of  the  fronds,  or 
leaves,  or  in  which  the  flowers  are  borne  on 
footstalks  which  overtop  the  leaves.  The  stem 
is  the  common  footstalk,  or  rather,  the  middle 
rib  of  the  leaves,  so  that  most  ferns  want  the 
stem  altogether.  The  ferns  constitute  the 
first  order  of  cryptogams  in  the  sexual  system. 
—Milne,      .  .  .  .  ■  -169 

Ferruginous.  (Ecrrum,  iron ;  fcrrugo,  rust  of  iron ;) 
containing  particles  of  iron,  .  .  .    137 


202  INDEX    AND    GLOSSARY. 

Page 
Fibula.     The  outer  and  lesser  bone  of  the  leg,  much 

smaller  than  the  tibia.—  Quincy.     See  Tibia,      .      81 
Fleming,  Dr.     On  the  deluge,  .  .  .56 

Flint.    A  mineral  consisting  of  siliceous  earth,      .     125 

Flux.  In  metallurgy,  any  substance  or  mixture 
used  to  promote  the  fusion  of  metals  or  minerals,     137 

Formation.  A  group,  whether  of  alluvial  deposits, 
sedimentary  strata,  or  igneous  rocks,  referred  to 
a  common  origin  or  period. — Lycll,  .  .       19 

Fossils.  {Fodio,  to  dig ;  fossils,  what  may  be  dug 
up ;)  the  term  was  formerly  applied  to  all  min- 
erals; now  it  is  restricted  to  the  remains  of 
plants  and  animals  embedded  in  the  strata  of  the 
earth. 

Glyptodon,  Remarks  on  the,  .  .  .90 

Gneiss.  (A  German  mining  term.)  The  Gneiss 
system  consists  of  contorted  and  laminated  beds 
of  quartz,  felspar,  and  mica,  irregularly  strati- 
fied; which  may,  in  truth,  be  regarded  as  strati- 
fied granite,  for  the  same  substances  enter  into 
their  composition,  as  prevail  in  the  amorphous 
masses  of  that  rock. — ManteU.      .  .  .23 

Goniatites.  (ywvia,  an  angle.)  The  name  of  spi- 
rally-twisted species  of  cephalopoda,  which  inha- 
bited the  seas  during  the  carboniferous  period, 
and  are  characterised  by  the  angular  markings 
made  by  the  intersections  of  the  walls  of  the 
chambers  and  the  outer  shell.— Hoblyn. 


INDEX    AND    GLOSSARY.  203 

Page 
Grain  of  sand.    Its  properties,         .  .  .     140 

Graminivorous.  (Gramen,  grass;  voro,  to  eat;) 
feeding  on  grass,     .  .  .  .  .83 

Granites.  An  igneous  rock,  usually  composed  of 
three  simple  minerals  (felspar,  quartz,  and  mica). 
It  derives  its  name  from  its  granular  structure, 
(granum,  a  grain.)  On  the  mode  of  its  forma- 
tion.    See  page  12,  etc. 

Gravitation.  (Gravitas,  weight.)  The  mutual  ten- 
dency of  bodies  towards  one  another.  Newton 
laid  down  those  laws  of  gravitation, — (1st)  The 
gravitating  forces  of  bodies  are  directly  as  their 
masses.  If  the  mass  of  a  body  be  twice  that  of 
another,  its  gravity  is  also  double.  (2d)  The 
gravitating  forces  of  bodies  are  inversely  as  the 
squares  of  their  distances.  When  the  distance  of 
bodies  is  doubled,  their  gravity  is  reduced  to  a 
fourth.  When  the  distance  is  tripled,  the  gravi- 
ty is  reduced  to  a  ninth,  etc.,        .  .        107,  etc. 

Gypsum.  A  mineral  composed  of  lime  and  sul- 
phuric acid ;  hence  also  called  sulphate  of  lime. 
Plaster  and  stucco  are  obtained  by  exposing 
gypsum  to  a  strong  heat.  It  is  found  so  abund- 
antly near  Paris  that  plaster  of  Paris  is  a  com- 
mon term  in  this  country  for  the  white  powder 
of  which  casts  are  made. — Lyell.  (yvxpos,  chalk; 
from  yj],  earth,  and  eipu,  to  bake.)     This  is  the 


204  INDEX    AND    GLOSSARY. 

Page 

etymology  which  some  give.    Lyell  says  that  the 

derivation  is  unknown,       ....     163 

Hare,  Instincts  of,      .  .  .  .  .     15G 

Hemisphere.  Half-sphere.  The  equator  divides 
the  mundane-sphere  into  two  equal  parts — the 
northern  and  southern  hemispheres,        .  .      47 

Herbivorous.  (H:rba,  herb;  and  voro,  to  eat;)  eat- 
ing herbs ;  feeding  on  vegetables.  The  ox  and 
all  the  bovine  genus  of  quadrupeds  are  herbivo- 
rous animals,  .  .  .  .  17,  etc. 
Hitchcock,  Professor.  On  the  explanations  of 
Genesis,  Preface,  note. 

On  the  antiquity  of  the  globe,  26,  etc. 
On  the  deluge,  .  .      68 

Hume.     On  miracles,  .  .  .  .99 

Hutton's  Theory  of  the  Earth,  .  .  .156 

Hybridism.  (Hybrida,  a  mongrel ;)  artificial  fecun- 
dation. A  hybrid  is  a  plant  or  animal  obtained 
by  crossing  two  varieties  of  the  same  species,  or 
two  distinct  species  of  the  same  genus.  Such 
plants  or  animals  are  also  called  mules,  .  .     179 

Hypothesis.  (v-jroOscris,  a  supposition;)  a  proposition 
or  principle  taken  for  granted,  or  supposed,  in 
order  to  account  for  certain  results,        .  33,  etc. 

Ichthyosaurus,  Remarks  on  the     .  .     91,  and  162 

Induction.    The  method  of  reasoning  from  particu- 


INDEX    AND    GLOSSARY.  205 

Page 
Jars  to  generals,  or  the  inferring  of  one  general 

proposition  from  several  particular  ones.—  Web- 
ster, .......      95 

Infusorial.  Animalcules  are  found  in  many  infu- 
sions; but  the  term  infusorial,  or  infusory,  is 
applied  to  all  minute  living  creatures  found  in 
liquids,  whether  infused  or  not,  as  in  stagnant 
water  or  vinegar,    .  .  .  .  .96 

Insects.  (Insectus,  cut  into  or  divided  into  seg- 
ments.) This  name  seems  to  have  been  origi- 
nally given  to  small  animals  whose  bodies  appear 
cut  in  and  almost  divided.—  Webster.  A  class  of 
articulated  animals,  which  are  furnished  with 
two  antennas,  six  thoracic  legs,  and  spiracula  for 
respiration. — Palmer,  .  .  .  .92 

Joints.  In  geology,  fissures  or  lines  of  parting  in 
rocks  often  at  right  angles  to  the  places  of  strati- 
fication. The  partings  which  separate  columnar 
basalt  into  prisms,  are  joints.  Professor  Sedg- 
wick mentions  that  the  portion  of  rock  interven- 
ing between  two  joints  has  no  tendency  to  cleave 
in  a  direction  parallel  to  the  planes  of  the  joints, 
whereas  a  rock  is  susceptible  of  indefinite  sub- 
division in  the  direction  of  its  slaty  cleavage. 
Joints  and  cleavage  are  thus  discriminated,         .      36 

Lacustrine.     {Lacus,  lake  ;)  belonging  to  lakes,  .       46 
La  Marck,  character  and  notions  of,  .  .    175 


£06  INDEX    AMD    GLOSSARY. 

Page 
Laminae.    In  Geology,  the  platings  or  smaller  lay- 
ers of  which  a  stratum  is  composed,        .  .      36 
Layer.     (From  lay,  the  verb.)    A  name  applied  to 
matter,  such  as  clay  or  sand  laid  or  spread  over 
other  bodies. 

Lias.  One  of  the  secondary  groups  of  fossiliferous 
strata.  So  named  probably  from  the  appearance 
of  the  bed  in  riband-like  layers  of  different  col- 
ours, observed  in  some  parts  of  England. — An* 
sted. 

Lichen.  Belongs  to  the  aphyllae-,  or  leafless  plants. 
These  plants  spread  themselves  over  the  dry 
surfaces  of  trees,  stones,  etc.,  and  derive  their 
nourishment  from  the  air.  Their  reproductive 
organs  are  sporules.  The  lichen  is  a  genus  of  the 
class  cryptogamia,  and  of  the  order  alga,  .     157 

Limestone.  A  limestone  or  calcareous  rock  is 
composed  of  lime  and  carbonic  acid.  Shells 
and  corals  are  formed  of  the  same  elements,  with 
the  addition  of  animal  matter.  On  the  deriva- 
tion of  limestone  from  the  exuviae  of  animals, 
Mrs.  Somerville  says : — '  Since  the  commence- 
ment of  animated  existence,  zoophytes  have 
built  coral  reefs,  extending  hundreds  of  miles, 
and  mountains  of  limestone  are  full  of  their  re- 
mains all  over  the  globe.  Mines  of  shells  are 
worked  to  make  lime ;  ranges  of  hills  and  rock, 
many  hundred  feet  thick,  are  almost  entirely 


INDEX    AND    GLOSSARY.  207 

Page 
composed  of  them,  and  they  abound  in  every 

mountain-chain  throughout  the  earth.  The  pro- 
digious quantity  of  microscopic  shells  discovered 
by  M.  Ehrenberg  is  still  more  astonishing ;  shells 
not  larger  than  a  grain  of  sand  form  entire  moun- 
tains :  a  great  portion  of  the  hills  of  Casciana  in 
Tuscany  consist  of  chambered  shells  so  minute 
that  Signor  Saldani  collected  10.454  of  them  from 
one  ounce  of  stone.  Chalk  is  almost  entirely 
composed  of  them,'  ....     132 

Limuli.  The  limulus.  or  king  crab,  belongs  to  a 
division  of  the  Crustacea.  It  has  a  distinct 
carapaee  or  buckler,  with  two  eyes  in  front  of 
the  shield.  A  small  fossil  species  is  found  in  the 
ironstone  nodules  of  Coalbrookdale. — Mantell,    .     104 

Lithological.  (\c6os,  a  stone,  and  Aoyoj,  discourse.) 
Pertaining  to  the  science  of  stones. 

Loins.  The  loins  are  the  space  on  each  side  of  the 
vertebrae,  between  the  lowest  of  the  false  ribs, 
and  the  upper  portion  of  the  os  ilium  or  haunch 
bone,  or  the  lateral  portions  of  the  lumbar  re- 
gion :  called  also  the  reins. —  Webster,       .  .      79 

Lumbar.  (From  lumbus,  loins;)  pertaining  to  the 
loins.  The  lumbar  region  is  the  posterior  portion 
of  the  body,  between  the  false  ribs,  and  the  up- 
per edge  of  the  haunch  bone. — Parr,       .  .      80 

Lyell,  Sir  C.     On  aqueous  and  igneous  rocks,         .        6 
On  the  groups  of  fossiliferous  strata,  16,  etc. 


208  INDEX    AND    GLOSSARY. 

Page 
Lyell,  Sir  C.     On  the  difficulties  of  Geology,         36,  etc. 

On  the  low  antiquity  of  our  species,       45 

On  the  possibility  of  a  deluge,  .      65 

Macculloch  on  mineral  veins,  .  .  .135 

Macrauchenia,  Kemarks  on  the,      .  .  .90 

Mammalia.  Mamnii  ferae.  ■'  (Mamma,  the  breast.) 
The  mammalia  are  the  first  class  of  vertebrate 
animals  in  Cuvier's  fourfold  division  of  the  animal 
kingdom.  They  suckle  their  young  by  means  of 
lactiferous  teats ;  and  hence  their  name, .  17,  etc. 

Manipulation.     (Manipulus,  manus,  hand ;  and  the 

Teutonic  full;)  hand- work,  .  .  .     Ill 

Mantell,  Dr.     On  fossils  in  the  sedimentary  strata,  17,  etc. 
Marine.     (Mare,  the  sea;)  belonging  to  the  sea,    .       55 
Marble.     Limestone  is  so  called,  when  it  is  capable 
of  receiving  a  high  polish,  or  when  it  has  been  so 
altered  by  igneous  agency  as  to  admit  of  being 
worked  into  statuary,        ....     125 
Marl.     A  mixture  of  clay  and  lime ;  usually  soft, 
but  sometimes  hard,  in  which  case  it  is  called 
indurated  marl.—  Lyell,      .  .  19,  etc. 

Marsupial  animals.  (From  marsupimn,  a  pouch.) 
An  order  of  mammalia,  having  a  sack  or  pouch 
under  the  belly,  in  which  they  carry  their  young, 
like  the  kangaroo  and  opossum.  They  are  ovo- 
viviparous  animals,  being  intermediate  between 
the  truly  viviparous  mammalia,  and  the  ovipa- 
rous birds  and  reptiles.— Hoblyn,  .  .    159 


INDEX    AND    GLOSSARY.  209 

Page 
See  remarks  on  different  species  of  opossums.     164 

Measures  (Coal) ;  same  as  beds,        .  .  ,22 

Megatherium.  (j"sya3  great;  dripiov,  beast.)  For 
description  of,  see  .  .  .  .  .77 

Metals.  (ficTaWov,  a  mine,  mineral;)  simple  ele- 
mentary bodies,  characterised  generally  by  their 
peculiar  metallic  lustre  and  great  specific  gravi- 
ties. They  have  been  distributed  into  different 
classes,  according  to  their  affinity  for  oxygen  and 
the  properties  of  their  oxides.  See  an  account 
of,     .  .  .  .  .  .        131,  etc. 

Metamorphic.  Transformed,  {jicra,  trans ;  poptpri, 
forma.)  This  is  a  name  suggested  by  Sir  C.  Ly- 
ell,  for  rocks  which  he  was  the  first  to  regard  as 
stratified  rocks,  altered  by  igneous  agency,  .       23 

Meteorology,  (fierecopos,  lofty,  and  Asyo?.  discourse  ;) 
the  science  which  treats  of  the  atmosphere  and 
its  phenomena,        .  .  .  .  .157 

Miller,  Mr.  Hugh.  On  old  red  sandstone,  and  on 
the  ichthyolites  of  Orkney,  .  .  .22 

Milton.     Quoted,         .  .  .  .  .  o,  61 

Mollusea.  (Mottusmm,  from  mollis,  soft.)  In  zo- 
ology, a  division  or  class  of  animals  whose  bodies 
are  soft,  withoul  an  Internal  skeleton  or  articulat- 
ed covering.  Some  of  them  breathe  by  lungs, 
others  by  gills;  some  live  on  land,  others  on  wa- 
ter; some  of  them  are  naked,  others  testaceous, 
or  provided  with  shells.  Many  of  them  are  fur- 
o 


210  INDEX    AND    GLOSSARY. 

Page 
nished  with  feelers    or  tentacula.— Cuvwr,  Ed. 
Encyc,        .  .  •  •  •  .93 

Moss.  In  the  Sexual  System  of  Botany,  the  mos- 
ses are  the  second  order  of  the  class  cryptogamia, 
which  contains  all  the  plants  in  which  the  parts 
of  the  flower  and  fruit  are  wanting  or  not  con- 
spicuous.—  Webster,  ....     157 

Nautilus.  The  nautilus  belongs  to  the  cephalopo- 
dous  shell-fish.  The  shell  consists  internally  of 
a  series  of  chambers,  all  of  which  are  pierced 
through  by  a  siphunculus,  or  tube.  The  fish  has 
the  power  of  filling  this  tube  with  a  fluid,  and 
of  exhausting  it ;  and  by  altering  in  this  way 
its  specific  gravity,  it  can  sink  or  swim  at  plea- 
sure,   86,  104,  etc. 

Nebular.  {Nebula,  cloud.)  In  astronomy,  a  nebula 
is  a  cluster  of  fixed  stars,  which  cannot  be  dis- 
tinguished from  each  other  by  the  naked  eye,  or 
in  some  instances  even  by  the  telescope.  Their 
dim,  hazy  light  has  somewhat  the  appearance  of 
a  luminous  cloud.  It  has  been  an  opinion  with 
some  that  there  is  a  nebular  matter  diffused 
through  space,  and  constituting  the  material  out 
of  which  stars  are  formed*    See  page  102. 

Nile,  detritus  of,  .  -  .  -8 

Nodule.  A  rounded  mineral  mass,  as  flint. — Mantcll,       36 

*  This  is  the  doctrine  of  the  Nebular  Theory,  which  received  its 
most  fascinating  exposition  and  defence  from  Professor  Nicholin  his 
«  Architecture  of  the  Heavens.' 


INDEX    AND    GLOSSARY.  211 

Page 
North  British  Review.     Quoted,  page  101-5. 

Ocelli.     Markings  resembling  eyes  may  be  called 

180 
by  this  name,  . 

Oken.     On  structure  of  plants  and  animals,  .     177 

Opossum.     The  opossums  belong  to  the  group  of 
marsupial,  or  pouched  animals,  and  are  peculiar 
to  America.     See  Marsupial,         .  •  •     *64 

Ore.    A  term  applied  to  the  natural  substances  from 

which  metals  are  obtained.     See  Oxide,  .     135 

Organisation.    Organic.    These  words  have  relation 

to  the  structure  of  plants  and  animals.     Organs 

are  the  parts  or  natural  instruments  by  which 

vital  processes  are  carried  on. 

Orthoceras.      (opdoS,  straight;  and  Ktpas,  a  horn.) 

The  name  of  an  extinct  genus  of  cephalopods 

which  inhabited  a  long  chambered,  conical  shell, 

like  a  straight  horn, 

Ova,     Eggs,    •••••• 

Oviparous.  (Omm,  an  egg;  P<*>rio,  to  bring  forth.) 
\  designation  of  those  animals  which  produce 
their  young  in  an  egg,  the  egg  being  hatched  af- 
ter its  exclusion  from  the  parent,  as  in  the  cases 
of  birds  and  most  reptiles.— Hobhjn.        .  ■    162 

Oxide.  An  oxide  of  a  substance  is  a  compound  of 
that  substance  with  oxygen.  Many  of  the  ores 
from  which  metals  are  obtained  are  oxides  of  the 
metals. 


1G0 
97 


212  INDEX    AND    GLOSSARY. 

Fag* 
Oxygen.    A  gas  which  is  a  principal  constituent  of 

the  atmospheric  air. 

Pachyderms.  (Va^us,  thick ;  and  iep/i a,  the  skin.) 
A  name  applied  to  a  group  of  mammiferous 
animals,  comprising  some  with  a  very  thick  skin, 
such  as  the  elephant,  the  rhinoceros,  and  the 
hippopotamus,        .....     162 

Palaeontology.  (trdXaios  ancient ;  ovt<x,  beings ; 
and  \oyos,  discourse.)  The  science  of  fossil  re- 
mains, both  animal  and  vegetable. 

Pantheistic.  Confounding  God  with  the  universe : 
supposing  the  universe  to  be  God,  .  .176 

Parasitical.  (wapa,  by;  and  <nros,  sustenance.) 
In  botany,  a  parasite  is  a  plant  growing  on  the 
stem  or  branch  of  another  plant,  from  which  it 
derives  nourishment.  In  zoology,  animals  are 
said  to  be  parasites  when  they  attach  themselves 
to,  and  live  at  the  expense  of  other  animals. 

Pectoral  Fins.  The  fins  which  are  situated  at  the 
sides  of  a  fish,  behind  the  gills,  .  .     175 

Pelvis.  (Pelvis.)  The  cavity  of  the  body  formed 
by  the  os  sacrum,  os  coccyx,  and  ossa  innominata, 
forming  the  lower  part  of  the  abdomen, —  Webster,      79 

Petrified.      (Petra,  a  rock ;  facio,  to  make.)     See 

remarks  on  Petrifaction,  page  7. 
Phillips,  Professor.    On  the  gradual  enrichment  of 

organisation,  .....    104 


INDEX    AND    GLOSSARY.  213 

Page 

Plesiosaurus.  (ir\r}<xiot>,  near,  and  vavpa,  a  lizard.) 
Remarks  on  the,     .  .  .  .  .92 

Prehensile.  (Prelvendo,  to  take,  or  seize ;  prehensus.) 
Adapted  to  seize  or  grasp.  The  tails  of  some 
monkeys  are  prehensile,  as  the  animals  have 
the  power  of  coiling  them  around  the  branches 
of  trees,  so  as  to  take  hold  of  the  branches.     110,  etc: 

Primitive.  The  granite  and  the  crystalline  strata 
were  formerly  called  primitive,  under  the  idea 
that  they  were  the  first  formed,  and  that  the 
aqueous  and  volcanic  rocks  were  afterwards  su- 
perimposed. All  formations  were  then  supposed 
to  be  of  aqueous  origin. 

Prior,  the  Poet.     On  the  absurdities  of  Lucretius,      182 

Processes.     Projecting  parts. 

Quartz.  A  simple  mineral,  composed  of  pure  silex. 
The  very  hard  white  translucent  stones  frequently 
met  with  on  gravel  walks,  are  quartz.  So  also  is 
rock  crystal. 

Rabbit,  instincts  of,  .  .  .  .  .106 

Refrigeration.     (Re  and  frigus,  cold.)     The  act  of 

cooling :  state  of  being  cooled,      .  .  .80 

Reid,  Dr.  Thomas.     On  maternal  carefulness,         .     113 
Reptiles.     The  class  reptilia  constitutes  one  of  the 
great  groups  of  tin-  vertebrated  animals.     Respi- 
ration is  effected  in  some  of  the  reptiles  by  lungs 
and  gills,  in  others  by  lungs  only.     The  blood  is 
o2 


214  INDEX    AND    GLOSSARY. 

Page 
cold.     The  heart  consists  of  three  cavities.     The 

young  are  produced  from  eggs. — Patterson,       20,  etc. 

Revolution  of  the  earth.  The  word  revolution 
frequently  denotes  the  circular  motion  of  a  body 
on  its  axis.  It  also  expresses  the  motion  of  a 
body  round  any  point  or  centre :  and  thus  the 
earth  in  its  annual  course  performs  a  revolution 
around  the  sun,       .....     140 

Richardson,  Mr.,  verses  by.  On  the  nautilus  and 
the  ammonite,        .  .  .  .  .80 

Rotation  of  the  earth,  is  the  turning  of  the  earth  on 
its  axis  as  distinguishable  from  its  progressive 
motion  in  its  orbit,  while  revolving  around  the 
sun  as  a  centre,       .....     140 

Ruminants.  '  The  order  ruminantia  is  distinguished 
from  all  the  other  orders  of  mammalia,  by  the 
existence  of  four  stomachs,  arranged  for  the  act 
of  ruminating  or  chewing  the  cud.  These  ani- 
mals are  essentially  herbivorous,  and  are  all  pos- 
sessed of  the  cloven  hoof;  and  it  is  only  among 
them  that  species  are  met  with,  whose  foreheads 
are  armed  with  horns.'       .  .  .         162,  etc. 

Salt,  rock  salt.  The  common  culinary  salt,  or 
chloride  of  sodium,  is  called  rock  salt  when  it  is 
found  in  large  solid  masses. 

Schelling.     On  structure  of  plants  and  animals,      .     177 

Schist,  micaceous.  Slate  admits  of  being  split 
into  an  indefinite  number  of  parallel  laminae.    The 


INDEX    AND    GLOSSARY.  215 

Page 
term  schist  is  most  properly  applied  to  those 
metamorphic   rocks  which  have  a  less  regular 
cleavage.    Schist  is  said  to  be  micaceous  when  it 
contains  mica,  a  mineral  so  named  from  its  glit- 
tering appearance.  .  .  .  .23 
Sedgwick.  Professor.    On  so-called  Scripture  geolo- 
gies,            .            .            .            •            •  .71 
Sediment,    (Lat.  sedimentum,  from  sedeo,  to  settle.) 
The  matter  which   subsides   to  the  bottom  of 
liquors  ;  settlings,  lees,  dregs. — Bacon. 
Sepife.     The  sepia  is  another  name  for  the  cuttle- 
fish.   It  belongs  to  the  cephalopoda.     '  The  soft- 
body  of  the  existing  sepia  is  supported  by  a  skele- 
ton formed  of  a  single  bone  of  very  extraordinary 
structure  ;  when  dried  and  reduced  to  powder,  it 
is  the  substance  called  pounce.     The  cuttle-fish 
has  the  power  of  secreting  a  dark-coloured  fluid, 
or  ink,  which  it  ejects  when  pursued,  and  by  thus 
rendering  the  water  turbid,  escapes  from  its  ene- 
mies.     This   fluid   is  contained   in   a   bag,  and 
forms:  when  properly  prepared,  the  sepia  colour 
employed  in  the  arts,  and  enters  into  the  compo- 
sition of  Indian  ink.'— Mi nhll. 
Shale.    (From  German  sckaL  n,  to  split.)  Hardened 

slaty  clay. 
Silex  is  the  name  of  one  of  the  pure  earths,  being 
the  Latin  word  for  flint,  which  is  wholly  com- 
posed of  that  earth  :  the  term  is  sonieti  ties  used 


216  INDEX    AND    GLOSSARY. 

Page 
generically  for  all  minerals  composed  entirely  of 
that  earth,  whatever  may  be  their  external  forms. 
Siliceous,  belonging  to  the  earth  of  flint;  rocks 
mainly  composed  of  silex  are  so  called.  When 
silex  and  another  substance  are  chemically  com- 
bined, the  compound  is  called  a  silicate,  as  the 
silicate  of  iron.    See  pages  9,  18,  etc. 

Simple  minerals.  The  minerals  so  called  are  not 
absolutely  simple ;  they  are  compounded  of  ele- 
ments Avhich  may  be  separated  by  chemical 
analysis,  but  they  are  designated  simply  as  being 
individual  mineral  substances,  and  not  rocks 
formed  from  an  aggregation  of  such  simple  mine- 
rals. 

Slate.  In  -what  sense  to  be  considered  an  igneous 
rock.     (See  Schist.)  .  .  .  .12 

Sloth.     Remarks  on  the,       .  .  .  .77 

Smelting.  The  reduction  of  a  metallic  ore,  in  order 
to  extract  the  pure  metal.  A  third  substance  is 
usually  added  to  the  ore  and  fuel,  to  make  a 
fusible  compound  with  the  earthy  matter  of  the 
ore.     See  Flux,       .  .  .  .  .137 

Smith,  Dr.  Pye.  His  explanation  of  the  beginning 
of  Genesis,  .  .  .  .  .42 

Snowdonian  Rocks,  fossils  of.  A  slaty  sandstone 
forming  the  bottom  of  the  Cambrian  system  in 
Snowdon,  contains  shells  of  the  family  Brachiopo- 
da,  and  a  few  zoophytes. — Lyctt,  .  .     104 

Solstices.  (Sol,  the  sun ;  sto,  to  stand.)  The  two 
extreme  points  of  the  sun's  apparent  course,  north 


INDEX    AND    GLOSSARY.  217 

Page 
and  south  of  the  equator.     These  are  the  first 
points  of  Cancer  and  of  Capricorn,  where  the  sun 
appears  to  make  a  stand,  going  neither  north- 
wards nor  southwards.— Hoblyn. 

Solution.  (Chemical.)  This  term  denotes  that  a 
perfect  chemical  union  of  the  solid  with  the  liquid 
is  produced  in  accordance  with  the  laws  of  defi- 
nite proportions.  Both  the  constituents  of  the 
compound  exhibit  a  change  in  their  properties, 
and  are  combined  in  an  entirely  new  substance. 
— Hoblyn. 

Somerville.  On  the  partial  location  of  animals,  .  60 
Spar.  This  name  is  given  to  stones  of  which  the 
broken  surfaces  present  smooth  shining  plates 
lying  over  each  other  horizontally.  Calcareous 
spar  is  crystallized  carbonate  of  lime ;  Iceland 
spar  is  one  of  its  purest  varieties,  .     141 

Species.  In  natural  history,  the  term  species  is 
applied  to  organised  beings,  whether  plants  or 
animals,  descended  from  a  common  stock,  or  hav- 
ing resemblances  compatible  with  such  descent. 

Spheroid,  (vfaipa,  a  sphere,  and  etdos,  likeness;) 
a  body,  of  which  the  figure  resembles  a  sphere, 
whileitisnot  perfectly  spherical.  There  are  two 
kinds  of  spheroids— the  oblate,  and  the  prolate, 
A  semi-ellipsis,  moving  round  its  lesser  axis,  de- 
scribes an  oblate  spheroid.  A  semi-ellipsis, 
moving  round  its  greater  axis,  describes  a  pro- 
late  spheroid.  The  earth  is  an  oblate  Bpheroid 
being  flattened  at  the  poles,  .  .    153 


218  INDEX    AND    GLOSSARY. 

Page 

Spine.  Th&back-bone  of  an  animal.  Also  a  sharp 
process  from  the  woody  part  of  a  plant.  Also 
employed  to  designate  those  processes  attached 
to  the  papillae  of  the  Echinites,  or  sea-urchins, 
which  are  their  instruments  of  motion.  When 
the  animal  dies,  the  tendons  which  fixed  the 
spines  to  the  shell  decompose,  and  hence  the 
processes  fall  off,  and  are  wanting  in  almost  all 
fossil  specimens.     See  p.  26. 

Subsidence.  This  term  is  applied  to  the  sinking  of 
land,  as  distinguished  from  its  upheaval  or  ele- 
vation. For  an  explanation  of  the  manner  in 
which  these  effects  may  result  from  igneous 
agency,  see  p.  121. 

Sweden.  Land  of  rising,  p.  122.  In  parts  of  Swe- 
den, the  land  is  experiencing,  and  has  experi- 
enced for  centuries,  a  slow  upheaving  movement. 
—Lycll. 

Thin  out.  When  a  stratum  gradually  diminishes 
in  thickness  till  it  disappear,  it  is  said  to  thin  out,     107 

Tibia.  In  anatomy,  the  larger  of  the  two  bones  of 
the  human  leg.  Situated  internally  and  ante- 
riorly to  the  fibula. — Palmer. 

Toxodon,  remarks  on  the,     .  .  .  .90 

Trap  Rocks.  (From  troppa,  Swedish,  a  stair.) 
Volcanic  rocks,  composed  of  felspar,  augite,  and 
hornblende.  The  various  proportions  and  state 
of  aggregation  of  these  simple  minerals,  and  dif- 
ferences in  external  forms,  give  rise  to  varieties 
which  have  received  distinct  appellations,  as  ba- 
salt, amygdaloid,  dolorite,  greenstone,  and  others. 


INDEX    AND    GLOSSARY.  219 

Page 
The  term  is  meant  to  denote  that  the  rocks  of 
this    class    sometimes    occur   in    large    tabular 
masses,  which  rise  one  above  another  like  steps 
and  stairs. — Hoblyn . 

Trilobites.  These  are  a  family  of  the  order  of 
Crustacea,  which  became  extinct  at  the  close  of  the 
carboniferous  epoch.— Richardson.  Called  trilo- 
bite,  or  three-lobed,  from  their  general  form  — 
Mantel!, 

Tropics.  (From  rpoirr,,  a  turning.)  In  geography, 
two  lesser  circles  of  the  globe,  drawn  parallel  to 
the  equator,  through  the  beginning  of  Cancer  and 
of  Capricorn. 

Turrilites.  Conspicuous  among  the  fossil  mollusca  of 
the  cretaceous  group,  and  foreign  to  the  tertiary 
and  recent  periods:  of  the  family  cephalopoda, 
to  which  the  living  cuttle-fish  and  nautilus  be- 
long.— Lnjell. 

Unconformable.  Strata  are  said  to  be  conform- 
able, when  their  planes  of  stratification  are  par- 
allel; otherwise,  they  are  unconformable,  . 

Valve.  (From  valve  folding  doors;)  one  of  the 
lids  or  pieces  in  bivalve  and  multivalve  shells,  .       34 

'  Vestiges  of  Creation.'    Remarks  on  that  work,     .    101 

Vertebrae  vertebrata.  A  vertebra  Is  a  joint  of  the 
back-bone.  The  vertebrae  in  man  are  the  twenty- 
four  bones  which  constitute,  by  their  articulation, 
the  vertebral  column.  They  are  distributed  from 
their  relative  situations,  into  the  clavical,  dorsal, 
and  lumbar.— Palrner.   The  vertebrate  are  a  large 


28 


220  INDEX    AND    GLOSSARY. 


Page 


division  of  the  animal  kingdom,  including  all 
those  species  which  are  furnished  with  a  back- 
bone or  vertebral  column,  as  the  mammalia, 
birds,  reptiles,  and  fishes, — Hoblyn.     ...       20 

Viscera.  The  bowels,  or  intestines ;  the  contents 
of  the  thorax  and  abdomen. 

Viviparous.  (Virus,  alive,  and  pario,  to  bring 
forth;)  applied  to  animals  which  bring  forth 
their  young  alive  and  perfect,  and  do  not  produce 
them  in  eggs,  like  the  oviparous  animals. 

Woodward,  Mr.  On  the  teeth  of  elephants  found 
in  Norfolk  and  Suflblk,      .  .  .17 

Zodiac.  Abroad  circle  in  the  heavens,  containing 
the  twelve  signs  through  which  the  sun  passes  in 
its  annual  course.  The  centre  of  this  belt  is  the 
ecliptic,  which  is  the  apparent  path  of  the  sun. 
The  name  zodiac  is  from  $&8tov,  zodion,  little 
animal,  and  it  has  reference  to  the  figures  of 
animals  employed  as  signs,    .  ...  .63 

Zoological,  (fwoy.  an  animal,  and  Aoyoj,  discourse ;) 
relating  to  zoology  or  the  science  of  animals,      .         6 

Zoophites.  (£wo*.  an  animal,  and  <pvrov,  a  plant.) 
In  natural  history,  a  body  supposed  to  partake  of 
the  nature  both  of  an  animal  and  a  vegetable,  as 
madrepores,  corallines,  etc.  The  animals  con- 
struct and  occupy  habitations,  which  are  fixed  to 
the  ground,  and  which  have  the  form  of  plants. 


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